Katli and I are back with another experiment after a short hiatus. I started work in February after the maternity time off. It took us sometime to adjust to a schedule and finally we are here to share an experiment with our favourite ingredient - WATER. Yes my son loves to play with water.
Yesterday we were at my friend's place to celebrate Holi (Indian festival that is celebrated with colors to welcome Spring). The kids enjoyed the most as we let them play with water. On the drive back home, I asked my son the name of the festival he celebrated. His reply was "Splish Splash Festival". He didn't remember the word - Holi but all he recollected from yesterday's party was having fun with water.
Coming to our experiment, let me tell you what we have for you today. We enjoyed eating a lot of clementines/oranges since February. So I planned an experiment with clemetines, green grapes and potatoes.
Aim
To see whether clemetines, grapes and potatoes float or sink in water
Things Needed
- Couple of clementines or orange
- Few green grapes
- Couple of potatoes
- A deep container / bowl filled with water
Directions
- Prepare the working area. Make sure it can stand all the water spills. I do the experiments in kitchen island. Fill the bowl with water.
- Put the orange in the water and watch what happens.
- Put the grapes in the water and watch what happens.
- Put the potatoes in the water and watch what happens.
- Peel the rind from the orange and try the experiment again, ask the kid what he/she sees.
What actually happens?
When you put the orange in the bowl of water it floated on the surface. But after you removed the rind,it sinks to the bottom. But that was not the case with green grapes or apple, they sink to the bottom all the time.
The rind of an orange is made of tiny air pockets . When placed in water, they float as the air pockets give it a lower density than water. So when rind is removed, all the air pockets are gone. The orange now sinks as its density is higher than that of water.
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