Comparing the Density of Different Liquids

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Learners carefully pour vegetable oil, water, and corn syrup in any order into a cup and discover that regardless of the order they are poured, the liquids arrange themselves in layers the same way. Learners then weigh the liquids and use their results, along with what they understand about density, to explain why the liquids form layers as they do. [Activity is publicly available through a web crawler capture on Archive.org. Activity write-up only, images are unavailable.]

Quick Guide

Preparation Time:
5 to 10 minutes
Learning Time:
30 to 45 minutes
Estimated Materials Cost:
$1 - $5 per group of students
Age Range:
Ages 8 - 14
Resource Types:
Activity, Experiment/Lab Activity, Lesson/Lesson Plan
Language:
English

Materials List (per group of students)

  • Water
  • Vegetable oil
  • Corn syrup
  • Ruler
  • Tape
  • Pencil
  • Permanent marker
  • 6 small cups
  • 1 tall clear cup
  • 50 paperclips
  • Student Activity Sheet

Keywords

Subjects

  • Mathematics
    • Measurement
      • Units of Measurement
  • Physical Sciences
    • States of Matter
      • Liquids
    • Structure and Properties of Matter
      • Mass and Weight
      • Volume and Density
  • The Nature of Science
    • The Scientific Process
      • Asking Questions
      • Conducting Investigations
      • Gathering Data

Informal Categories

  • Food and Cooking

Audience

To use this activity, learners need to:

  • see
  • touch

Learning styles supported:

  • Involves hands-on or lab activities

Other

Components that are part of this resource:

This resource is part of:

Access Rights:

  • Free access

By:

  • Kessler, James H. ; Galvan, Patricia M.

Rights:

  • All rights reserved, American Chemical Society, 2007