We've been wanting to try this seven layer density column by Steve Spangler and it was even better than we expected.
We made ours just like his, only we didn't have the same brilliant colors for the liquids. We lined up 8 ounces of each liquid in a 9 ounce paper cup and prepared our clear glass container:
From left to right the liquids are: honey, light Karo syrup, dish soap, water, vegetable oil, rubbing alcohol, and lamp oil.
Next, we slowly poured the liquids one by one, in the above order, into the glass container:
Here it is, finished and layers separating nicely:
The children said it was a lot of fun and they want to do more experiments. I'll be back to Steve Spangler Science for more ideas.
Looks fun!
Posted by: Deb | June 19, 2008 at 09:29 PM
Cool!!
Posted by: Kristen | June 19, 2008 at 11:27 PM
You ALWAYS have the neatest experiments! Your documentation is inspiring! :)
Posted by: Melissa | June 20, 2008 at 09:10 AM
It's a lot of fun...hope you all get a chance to give it a try!
Posted by: Kathy | June 20, 2008 at 09:22 AM
Found your site from my good friend Joyce at Kid Baltimore - http://www.kidbaltimore.com - and loved this experiment. My kids are too old for this, but I have some nieces that would be amazed. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Shell | June 23, 2008 at 04:14 PM
I tried this experiment too.In the beinning, it was all perfectly seperated. However I used baby oil instead of lamp oil. After a little while, The baby oil, alchohl, and veg oil all mixed up and ruined the project. I also added maple syrup instead or karo and used corn syrup too. The dawn and maple slightly mixed, and now it is to dark to even see into those 2 layers. It is a project due for school tomoorow and now Idont know what to do. Next time i will find the lamp oil?? what ever that is?? and do it exactly as they say.
Posted by: Michelle | February 13, 2009 at 03:28 AM
lamp oil is Kerosine and can be found in almost any hardware store
Posted by: David Starr | March 19, 2009 at 12:58 AM
this is akhila. iam an indian and i was not aware what to do for my science project and finally i saw this and am going to try this for my project.hope it might be fun.i also don 't know where do i get the karo syrup and lamp oil. please let me know
Posted by: Akhila yeruva | November 17, 2009 at 08:55 PM