Do you like rainbows? I do! A lot. When I was little, I used to spend my summers at my grandparents’ cottage. The mountain behind the house often revealed some of the most beautiful rainbows in the sky. They soared majestically over the field. I remember I was always absolutely mesmerized by the view. Mom used to say that “a bear was marrying somewhere” or that if I went under the rainbow I would become a boy.
I have been running towards the rainbow so many times ever imagining myself passing under it. I never became a boy – never suceeded to get under it 🙂 Today, my daughter and I enjoy this natural masterpiece any time we lock our eyes on the colorful rainbow. Since it was quite rainy yesterday, we decided to make a rainbow at home. In a glass!
FUN SCIENCE EXPERIMENT
The experiment is quite easy. However, it is quite intriguing and super fun. It requires some very simple ingredients and high spirits. In addition, it brilliantly develops the fine motor skills, concentration, familiarity with chemical and physical processes and colors. As a follow-up, a secondary experiment could be carried out mixing the primary colors to obtain a new color (secondary colors). Here’s what you need for the rainbow in a glass 🙂
MATERIALS NEEDED
- Skittles
- water
- clear glass
- 5 small cups
- table spoon
- pipette или syringe
CARRYING THE EXPERIMENT
- Separate the Skittles into the cups. Put 2 red, 4 orange, 6 yellow, 8 green и 10 purple.
- Heat some water enough to be hot, but not boiling.
- Pour two tablespoons of hot water into each cup.
- Stir each cup carefully. The Skittles need to melt so stir them every few minutes until completly melted. The water has to be room temperature to proceed to the next part of the experiment.
- Using a syringe or pipette, add the colored water from the five cups to the clear glass. Start first with the purple, then add the green, then the yellow, orange and finally the red. Go slowly so that the layers do not mix.
HOW DOES THE EXPERIMENT WORK
Skittles are basically made up of sugar. When you add hot water to them, the sugar dissolves and turns into different colors. A bowl of two red Skittles does not have as much sugar as a bowl of ten purple Skittles. However, they both have the same amount of water (2 tbsp). I.e. the density of the liquid in the different bowls is different. Thus, the red water is less dense than the purple water and therefore remains over when poured with pipette.
ХХХ
The Mermaid
