Travelling coloured water experiment

Introduce kids to density with this mesmerising simple experiment. All you need is water, food colouring, oil and two glasses. In 3 spoons of oil mix a few drops of food colouring. Then pour the mixture in water and watch how the colors mix with the water.

Hypothesis/Question: Do oil and water based colours mix? What happens with the oil mixture if you pour it in water? What will happen to the colouring drops?

Explanation: Water/water based colours and oil don’t mix. Water is denser than oil so the oil will float. The molecules of water atract each other and oil molecules stick together too. When the mixture sits on top the water the colour droplets start to drop down in the water because they are heavier than oil. These will mix with the water eventually and the clear oil will float on top.

Applicability and everyday examples of density: oil spils in the ocean, a cork fishing float