Defining Dissolving

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In this introductory activity, learners discover that sugar and food coloring dissolve in water but neither dissolves in oil. Based on their observations, learners can conclude that both solids and liquids can dissolve, but they don't necessarily dissolve in all liquids. Through this activity, learners will refine their definition of dissolve. [Activity is publicly available through a web crawler capture on Archive.org. Activity write-up only, images are unavailable.]

Quick Guide

Preparation Time:
Under 5 minutes
Learning Time:
10 to 30 minutes
Estimated Materials Cost:
1 cent - $1 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
  • Sugar
  • Food Coloring
  • 2 Small cups
  • 4 Clear plastic cups
  • 1 Tablespoon
  • 1 Teaspoon
  • Student Activity Sheet
  • Goggles

Keywords

Subjects

  • Physical Sciences
    • Chemistry
      • Solutions
    • States of Matter
      • Solids
      • Liquids
      • Gases
      • Changes of Phase
    • Structure and Properties of Matter
      • Elementary Particles and Nuclear Physics
  • The Nature of Science
    • The Scientific Process
      • Conducting Investigations
      • Gathering Data
      • Formulating Explanations
      • Communicating Results

Informal Categories

  • Food and Cooking

Audience

To use this activity, learners need to:

  • see
  • see color
  • 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