I done the mixing oil and water experiment!
You will need:
- Small soft drink bottle
- Water
- Food colouring
- 2 tablespoons of cooking oil
- Dish washing liquid or detergent
Instructions:
- Add a few drops of food colouring to the water.
- Pour about 2 tablespoons of the coloured water along with the 2 tablespoons of cooking oil into the small soft drink bottle.
- Screw the lid on tight and shake the bottle as hard as you can.
- Put the bottle back down and have a look, it may have seemed as though the liquids were mixing together but the oil will float back to the top.
After that
Try putting in washing up liquid. Then the oil and water mix.The washing up liquid is attracted to oil and water so it joins them both together.
What’s happening
Water often mixes with other liquids to form solutions, oil and water does not. Water molecules are strongly attracted to each other, this is the same for oil, because they are more attracted to their own molecules they just don’t mix together. They separate and the oil floats above the water because it has a lower density.