**Hello and welcome! Please check out my other science experiments under the “science experiments” categories above. And please, leave a comment on how you found me!**

 

Everyone has seen the very cool layered density column featuring different liquids (usually different colors), then you drop in things to show how there are different densities and things fall in either all the way, some of the way, or float right at the top. This is a great visual learning experiment. You pour the heaviest liquid in first, being careful not to let it touch the sides. Then, pour in the rest of the liquids you chose. Pick some household items to drop in (ping pong balls, golf balls, pick both heavy and light objects for the best displays), and let your little scientist figure out how density means that different layers will support different items!

 

What You’ll Need (in list of heaviest to lightest):

• Honey
• Corn syrup or pancake syrup
• Dish soap (I used Dawn because it was blue and pretty)
• water (you can color it)
• vegetable oil
• rubbing alcohol (you can also color this to differentiate it or just to make it pretty.)
• lamp oil
• Random Household Objects – have fun with this one! check out small items like toy balls, ping pong balls, golf balls, beans, legos, screws, washers, keys, etc.

 

 

Our layers! I used what I had on hand.  In order: honey, corn syrup, dishwasher soap, water (I colored it red to differentiate), corn oil.

 

My little scientist in training.

 

I let him pick items around the house to drop into the layers. He picked lego mini figure, buttons, different beans, pasta, peppercorns, an aluminum screw and a metal screw.

 

The ingredients and what the layers looked like. In hindsight, I would have colored the water something lighter!

 

He didn’t believe me that the layers wouldn’t mix, so he was watching very closely.

 

“mommy, look! they’re staying separated!”

 

Our first pass dropping items into the layers.

 

Lego Man and the peppercorns stayed on top.

 

After a while, we noticed that items started to sink through the corn syrup layer, especially if you piled more things on top.

 

A before and after shot. Overall, a fun and colorful experiment!

 

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Science Sparks

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 5th, 2013 at 3:28 pm and is filed under 2013, children, science experiments. Tags: 2013, density, fun, kids, preschool, science experiments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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4 Responses to “{Science Fun – Density Tower} Seattle Area Lifestyle Photographer”

1. kriste says:

   February 6, 2013 at 10:36 am

   That looks so fun! I’m pinning it!
2. Ticia says:

   February 11, 2013 at 1:39 pm

   I think this is the best demonstration of liquid in density that I’ve seen. Thanks for linking to Science Sunday!
3. Alex says:

   February 12, 2013 at 1:11 pm

   Ticia, thank YOU for hosting Science Sunday!
4. Emma @sciencesparks says:

   March 2, 2013 at 11:54 am

   How cool, we love density layers.

   Your photo’s are amazing.

   Thanks for linking to science sparks. x