Have too much Halloween candy in your house?? Well, here is a fun way to use some of it for science....and still get to eat it too!! During this activity you will dissolve the sugar based candy coating that contains some food dye. Both the sugar and food dye will dissolve and diffuse through water creating beautiful patterns! We take this to another level by comparing hot and cold water, does one help to dissolve and diffuse color faster?
What will dissolve candy the fastest?
Cold Water
Hot Water
What you'll need:
Assorted sugar candy - no chocolate!
prefer candy-coated but any sugar based candy will work, have fun experimenting with the different types of candy!!
Plate with white background - can use glass pie dish but need white backgroundHot water - from tap is fine, does not need to be boiling
Cold Water
Two cups
When doing this activity with younger children, its best to have the color of cups match temperature of water. Warmer colors (yellow, red, orange) for hot water and cooler colors (blue, green) for cold water.
Optional Add-ons: pepper, soap, salt, cinnamon, food dye, more candy...
Steps to Colorful Candy!
Set up the candy: Place two plates next to each other and arrange the candy on each plate. It is best to place the candy at edges of plate - each piece of candy does NOT need to touch. Get creative with patterns and color sorting!
One plate will have hot water and the other will have cold water, but you can set up one plate and only use hot water.
Protect your work area, especially if using paper plates. Recommend working inside of a plastic tub or baking sheet with sides. While we are only using sugar and water, it can get a bit messy.
Create a hypothesis: What do you think will happen to candy? If comparing water temperatures, will there be a difference?
A hypothesis is a statement that scientists write based on an idea using their knowledge. Then they create experiments to test their hypothesis to see if the data they collect supports or rejects their hypothesis. Example: The candy will dissolve in water at any temperature.
Add the water: If you can, work together to slowly pour the hot and cold water into the center of each plate at the same time - do NOT pour into same plate! Add enough water until base of plate is covered, candy should be about half-way covered but they can be completely covered too, it will still work.
Try to pour slowly so that candy doesn't swish around too much
If only using one plate, then use hot water
Watch the colors emerge! The sugar and food coloring will dissolve, sink, and then spread along the base of plate leading to clearly defined regions of color that do not mix with each other.
If using candy with a chocolate center, the effect will be slower as sugar content is lower.
If you set up two plates with different temperatures, was your hypothesis correct
The Science Behind it!
Tiny particles are everywhere and can move through any substance, we call this process diffusion. Particles in a gas move really fast, think about how fast sound or light travels through the air (gas) around us! Liquids still diffuse particles but at a rate (speed) approximately 100,000 times slower than a gas.
For any solution, we can control the rate of diffusion by changing the temperature of what a particle is moving through. With the hot water, there is more thermal (heat) energy and this results in a faster diffusion (movement) of the sugar and food dye particles. But with the colder water, there is less energy and the diffusion is slower than with the hot water. Both temperatures will still cause diffusion, just at different rates.
Since both sugar and food dye dissolve into the water, the amount of matter in the water actually increases but the volume doesn't change so we see an increase in the local density of the solution - so long as you don't move the plate! The denser solution sinks to bottom and spreads along base unit it meets fluid of a similar density and speed. It is this movement that leaves the colored regions in the plate. And if using all the same type of candy, the density should be similar and so they don't mix.
Essentially, the sugar dissolves and carries the food dye through solution as it sinks to bottom of plate, creating a colorful rainbow. The rate at which this happens can be controlled by temperature of the water, resulting in different rate of diffusion.
SAFETY - very minimal, excellent activity to do with any age level! Okay to consume candy after it has dissolved in water - did it change the flavor?
Disposal: pour all liquids down drain and discard any remaining candy in garbage.
For more fun!
So many ways you can experiment further with this activity, it is best to just let children use their imagination and let curiosity lead the way! Just make sure it is supervised exploration...
Experiment with different temperatures - how fast or slow can the rate of diffusion be? Try adding ice to really cool down water, please use caution if attempting to use boiling water (not recommended - could cause burns or even break your plate!)
What about different types of candy in same plate - do they have same rate of diffusion or does one dissolve faster, thereby increasing density more and resulting in different rate of diffusion or pattern in plate?
You can even add more candy to the plate after first batch dissolves, what happens?
After colors have mixed - depending on what you used it could be quite lovely - sprinkle some pepper over the surface until it is fully coated. Then dip a toothpick into dish soap and place it in water, what happens? Stay tuned for more details on this amazing science with our next Sunday Science Blog on Surface Tension!!!
For older kids (and parents too!) - continue (or start) using your science journal and take notes to record your observations from each experiment you do. “Remember kids, the only difference between science and screwing around….is writing it down!” Adam Savage, MythBusters.
So grab some of that Halloween candy, a plate, some water, and start experimenting! Who knows what other amazing things you’ll discover about particles, density, and rates of diffusion?
Keywords: particle model, diffusion, rates, density, temperature, hypothesis
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