Homeschool Curriculum – Liquid Layers
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Getting Started
Liquids are one of the most common forms of matter – you may learn that in your homeschool curriculum early on. However, even though they are so common and seem to interact so well with one another, not all liquids combine. In this homeschool curriculum experiment, you’ll get to play around which different liquids to learn more about which ones combine and which ones stay separate.
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Materials and Steps
To get started, you’ll need to gather up some basic materials:
• A quarter cup of water
• A quarter cup of vegetable oil
• One glass
• Food coloring
• Plastic wrap
• Extra water
• Additional liquids in quarter cup sizes for part two of the experiment: around with honey, more water, more vegetable oil, corn syrup, dishwashing liquid, and rubbing alcohol.
• You’ll also want a tall cup, two mixing cups, and food coloring for the second part of the experiment.
Once you have all of these materials, you’re ready to get started. Follow these simple steps for part one:
• Using the first set of tools, pour the water into the small glass. Add a few drops of your choice of food coloring.
• Add the oil.
• Record your observations.
• Cover the glass with plastic wrap tightly.
• Shake the glass vigorously to mix the liquids.
• Set the glass on a countertop.
• Record your observations.
Part Two
After you have completed part one, be sure to record all observations with detail. (By the way, if you’re having fun so far, download the Homeschool Science Experiment Guide and workbook for some more cool science project ideas you can do with you homeschool curriculum).
Once you’ve recorded your observations, you’re ready to move on to part two:
• Pour the corn syrup or honey into the glass (pour down the middle to avoid getting it caught on the sides of the glass). The syrup should fill the glass about 1/6 of the way.
• Pour the dishwashing liquid down the side of the glass.
• Record your observations about how to syrup and dishwashing liquid interact.
• Using one of the mixing cups, mix water and food coloring.
• Using the second mixing cup, mix alcohol and food coloring using a different color.
• Slowly add the colored water, pouring it down the side of the glass.
• Slowly add vegetable oil, pouring it down the side of the glass.
• Slowly add colored alcohol, pouring it down the side of the glass.
• Record your observations. You may want to even draw a sketch of what the liquids look like in the glass.
• Stir the liquids in the glass.
• Record your observations.
What Happened
What you observed:
In part one of this experiment, you should have noticed that the oil and water do not mix, even after you shake the glass. This is because these two substances are immiscible. Miscibility is a scientific word that describes how well two things mix together. When something is immiscible with another, it means that it does not mix with the other substance, as in this case.
The oil and the water are immiscible because they have different densities. Oil has less density than water, so oil will sit on top of the water.
In part two of this homeschool curriculum experiment, you mixed together several liquids. Each of these liquids has a different color and thickness (or viscosity). Also, you will notice that because the liquids have different densities, they form a layer on top of one another.
However, when you stirred the mixture together, you should have noticed that some of the liquids combined, meaning that they were miscible. The water and rubbing alcohol combine, as do the water and dishwashing liquid.
You’ve just learned a lot about the power of liquids to combine or stay separate. How can you apply this knowledge in your daily life? Record your ideas and observations to review later on.
