Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Celebrate the day with this easy science experiment featuring items you probably have on hand. This Rainbow in a Jar Science Experiment uses, water, sugar, food coloring, jars and a straw! So head to the kitchen and let’s learn about density!
Rainbow in a Jar Science Experiment
You will need:
- Four Mason Jars
- 1 jar with a narrow neck (we used a milk bottle)
- 2 cups of warm water
- Food coloring in blue, green, yellow and red
- a straw
- popsicle sticks (to stir with)
- a cup and a half of sugar
1. The first step in this Rainbow in a Jar Science Experiment is to fill each mason jar with 1/2 cup of warm water. Making sure the water is warm will help the sugar dissolve in an upcoming step.
2. Add food coloring (about two drops) to each jar, creating a blue jar, a green jar, a yellow jar and a red jar.
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3. Add sugar to each jar. In your blue jar, add 8 tablespoons. In your green jar, add 6 tablespoons. In your yellow jar, add four tablespoons and in your red jar, add two tablespoons.
4. Stir the water in each jar until the sugar is completely dissolved.
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5. Add the blue water to your jar with a long neck.
6. Using the straw, pull water from the green jar by placing the straw in the water and then covering the top of with your finger. Transfer the water to the long neck jar by putting the straw on the side of the jar and then letting go of the water as close to the surfaces of the blue water as possible. Repeat until you have a nice solid green layer.
7. Use the same method to add the yellow layer and then the red layer.
The Science
This is a great experiment to discuss density with kids. When you finish mixing the sugar into each color, show your kids the water levels. While they all started out the same, the blue appears much fuller now because you have made the water denser.
Why does the blue water stay on the bottom? Because it is denser than the other colors. The more sugar each layer has, the heavier it is which effects where it sits in the jar.
Have fun making your rainbow!
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