Rainbow in a jar

First of all, I must issue a disclaimer. I did not come up with the following experiment, I read it on an online blog. But, I like to think that intelligence isn't knowing everything, but knowing where to go to find whatever you need to know. Soo, I'll take credit for being intelligent (sometimes)!

This was an experiment to demonstrate density. We talked about everything being made of molecules and the more molecules, the more dense an object is. We took honey, corn syrup, dawn dish detergent, wesson oil, water and rubbing alcohol. We used food coloring to make sure they all were different colors.

The kids made guesses (hypothesis) about which would be the densest. We then layered them each in a jar.

Voila! Our rainbow in a jar. Then we went online and found a chart that listed most of our substances and their corresponding densities. (We put them in a different order in another jar to see the heavier ones sink into the lighter ones.)

Very pretty, isn't it? By the end they could tell me all about density and which substance was the most dense and the least dense.

When Dad got home, they were excited and wanted to show him our masterpiece. Anxious to receive my, "Atta girl" from John, I started peppering the kids with questions. Of course, they both just stood there and looked at me like they had never heard any of those terms or concepts before. Eventually I was able to jog their memory and they spouted out the answers that I originally had hoped would validate me as a teacher.

Anyway, they had fun and maybe they learned something in the process. And maybe, just maybe, there was little lesson tucked in just for the teacher regarding that nasty little villain…. Pride!