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In this activity, learners experiment with surface tension using everyday household items such as strawberry baskets, paperclips, liquid dish soap, and pepper. Learners will try to float objects on water and explore how the water molecules react to the addition of different substances. This activity will also introduce learners to water polarity. [Activity is publicly available through a web crawler capture on Archive.org.]
- Under 5 minutes
- 10 to 30 minutes
- 1 cent - $1 per group of students
- Ages 11 - 18
- Activity, Experiment/Lab Activity
- English
Quick Guide
Materials List (per group of students)
- Bowl
- Paperclips
- Strawberry Basket (optional)
- Liquid Dish Soap
- Water
- Pepper (optional)
Subjects
-
Physical Sciences
-
Electricity and Magnetism
- Electric Charges and Currents
-
Chemistry
- Chemical Bonding
-
States of Matter
- Liquids
-
Structure and Properties of Matter
- Atomic Structure
- Mass and Weight
-
Electricity and Magnetism
-
The Nature of Science
-
The Scientific Process
- Conducting Investigations
-
The Scientific Process
Audience
To use this activity, learners need to:
- see
- touch
Learning styles supported:
- Involves hands-on or lab activities
Other
This resource is part of:
Access Rights:
- Free access
By:
- Johnson, Jill
Rights:
- All rights reserved, Exploratorium, 2006