Teach kids the basics about oil and water with simple experiments.
Oil and water make excellent subjects for simple science experiments because they are accessible and informative. All you need is a faucet and a bottle of cooking oil to explore the properties of each substance and how they interact with a child. A simple water and oil experiment can also be a good way to teach children about the harmful effects of oil spills on wildlife and natural habitats and show them how difficult oil is to clean up once spilled in lakes and oceans.
Freezing Oil
One interesting and simple experiment examines what happens when water and oil are frozen together. Pour a cup of water into a plastic container. Add two tablespoons of cooking oil to the water. Watch as the two liquids interact. After about three to five minutes, the oil should rise to the surface. Place a lid on the container and place the container in the freezer. Remove the container two to three hours later and observe what has changed. The oil will now be beneath the water and no longer on the surface. Explain that oil rises to the surface in its liquid form because as a liquid it is less dense than water; but, when frozen, it sinks because water expands as it freezes and becomes more dense than oil as a frozen solid.
Liquid Friction
Use a simple experiment to demonstrate that some liquids do not mix. Fill a small water bottle with water, leaving an inch at the top with room for oil. Add three drops of food coloring to the water along with two tablespoons of cooking oil. Screw the lid on and shake as hard as you can. Let the liquids settle and observe what's happened; despite all the shaking, the oil will still remain atop the colored water --- coloring the water helps make the distinction more obvious. Allow the child to shake the bottle again, as hard as possible, and observe that the same result occurs. Explain that this is because no matter how hard you shake, oil is still less dense than water in its liquid form and therefore, will always rise to the surface.
Dishwashing Detergent
Perform a variation of the previous experiment by adding one teaspoon of dishwashing liquid or powdered dishwasher detergent to the bottle filled with water, food coloring and cooking oil. Instruct the child to shake the bottle vigorously and allow it to settle. Observe the difference; this time, the liquids will all mix together in something called an emulsion. Explain that the detergent bonds chemically to both water and oil allowing the substances to mix together. Explain that this is what makes dish soap and water so effective at taking baked-in oil off of dishes.
Oil Spill Experiment
This experiment uses items in your pantry to help children understand how difficult it is to clean up oil that has been spilled in nature, such as in oceans, lakes or swampland. Fill a clear glass bowl halfway with water. Add one cup of corn, vegetable, canola or olive oil to the water. Try to remove the oil from the bowl with spoons, cheese cloth, cotton balls and polyester cloth, in that order. Observe which item is best for removing the oil and note that it should be the polyester cloth. Explain that when oil spills happen in nature, workers use something similar called polypropylene cloth to remove the oil; it works since oil is attracted to polypropylene and the material is light enough to float on the water. The material absorbs the oil and workers pick up the cloth and discard it.
You might also dip a few feathers in the oil mixture and then try cleaning the oil off in the sink with dish soap and water. Explain that this is how workers clean off birds and other animals which get stuck in the oil spill. Compare the difficulty of trying to clean one cup of oil with hundreds of thousands of gallons in nature to help children understand the magnitude of the devastation caused by oil spills.
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