Tuesday, May 8, 2012

National Primary Science Week

This week is National Primary Science week and all the students at Muritai School are working on physical science investigations!
Room 1 enjoyed making lava in a cup.
Will it still work if you use sugar instead of salt? 
Try it at home!



Try some lava in a cup

What we used:

A clear cup
¼ cup of vegetable oil
1 to 4 teaspoons of salt
Water
Food colouring

What we did:

1. Fill the cup about ¾ cup full of water
2. Add about 5 drops of food colouring
3. Slowly pour the oil into the cup. See how the oil floats on top
4. Sprinkle the salt on top of the oil
5. Watch blobs of lava move up and down in your cup!
6. Add another teaspoon of salt to keep the effect going.

How does it work?

It looks a bit like a lava lamp because the oil floats on top of the water because it is lighter than the water. Since the salt is heavier than oil, it sinks down into the water and takes some oil with it, but then the salt dissolves and the oil floats back up to the top!!!


4 comments:

Junko said...

Sounds really interesting. I will try this in weekend after saving some salt for dinner or shall I use sugar? What will happen if i sweeten it???

Junko said...

I love those curious eyes!!

shannyn&sam said...

Your blog is so awesome!
From Shannyn & Samantha in room 7

shannyn&sam said...

Your blog is so awesome!
From Shannyn & Samantha in room 7