Red, White and Blue II Demonstration

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In this chemistry demonstration, learners investigate the rule "likes dissolve likes" by combining three, immiscible liquids to create a colorful density column. Learners are asked, "What color will result from mixing red, white, and blue?" They will be surprised by the answer as a beaker is revealed with red syrup on the bottom, white milk over the syrup and blue lamp oil on top. This is a perfect activity to use to demonstrate density and polarity, especially around the 4th of July. [Activity is publicly available through a web crawler capture on Archive.org.]

Quick Guide

Preparation Time:
Under 5 minutes
Learning Time:
Under 5 minutes
Estimated Materials Cost:
$1 - $5 per group of students
Age Range:
Ages 6 - 18
Resource Types:
Activity, Demonstration, Experiment/Lab Activity
Language:
English

Materials List (per group of students)

  • blue lamp oil or red lamp oil
  • whole milk
  • light corn syrup
  • red or blue food coloring
  • tall form 400 mL beaker or tall plastic/glass jar
  • aluminum foil

Keywords

Subjects

  • Physical Sciences
    • Chemistry
      • Solutions
    • States of Matter
      • Liquids
    • Structure and Properties of Matter
      • Volume and Density
  • The Nature of Science
    • The Scientific Process
      • Conducting Investigations

Informal Categories

  • Food and Cooking
  • Science Festivals Activity

Audience

To use this activity, learners need to:

  • see
  • see color

Learning styles supported:

  • Involves hands-on or lab activities

Other

This resource is part of:

Access Rights:

  • Free access with registration

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