GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — When you think of a tower, usually a tall building made from hard materials such as stone or steel comes to mind. In this experiment, we'll use science to do the seemingly impossible — stack liquids to make a tower.
Items you'll need:
- Honey
- Light Corn Syrup
- Dish Soap
- Water
- Vegetable Oil
- Rubbing Alcohol
- Tall glass container
- Cups
- Turkey Baster or spoon
- Small objects, such as nuts, coins, safety pins, etc.
Procedure:
- Measure the same amount of each liquid (I used 1/4 cup of each) and place in cups. Add food coloring to the clear liquids if you'd like.
- Start with the most dense liquid, honey. Pour the liquid slowly right into the center of the glass container. Avoid the sides of the container.
- Continue with the corn syrup, then the dish soap.
- Water is next, and it's time to switch the pouring technique. Use the turkey baster to grab water and pour it down the side of the container. A spoon will work too.
- Continue with vegetable oil and finally rubbing alcohol.
- Once the liquids have settled, drop small objects into the container and see where they settle in your tower of liquids.
How it works:
We filled a container with liquids of the same amount, but the liquids didn’t mix — why not? The reason is density.
Density is defined as the mass of a substance divided by the volume. Think of it like this — volume is how much space there is, and mass is how many molecules can be packed into an object or liquid. Density is a measure of how tightly those molecules are packed.
In this experiment, the volume of a substance was consistently the same, but the mass of each substance changed. Therefore, the density of each liquid is different.
Here is a list of density per each liquid material according to the label:
Honey - 1.42 g/mL
Light corn syrup - 1.33 g/mL
Dish soap - 1.06 g/mL
Water - 1.00 g/mL
Vegetable oil - 0.92 g/mL
Rubbing alcohol - 0.79 g/mL
Try other household liquids and see where they fit in the tower of liquids!
More from 13 ON YOUR SIDE:
Be sure to tune into 13 ON YOUR SIDE Mornings every Friday to see Meteorologist Laura Hartman share more kid-friendly science experiments!
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