Hello everyone,

We began the day with circle time and discussed what we did on the previous day. Following this, we put on our lab coats and began a science experiment. We discussed the meaning of a hypothesis, materials, a procedure and the importance of recording our observations. Following this, we began our experiment for the Science Fair, which will be held on Wednesday, May 23, 2012. 


We will be basing our experiment on density. We will be testing whether or not oil is more or less dense than water. In this experiment, we put 1/2 cup water in an empty water bottle. Following this, we added vegetable oil until the bottle was full. We added ten drops of purple food colouring, which caused the water to turn purple. Finally, we added an Alka-Seltzer tablet to the mixture. Although we conducted our research prior to today's class, we conducted an experiment in order to support our hypothesis. Our hypothesis is "when we add oil and water to the water bottle, the oil will be on top and the water will be on the bottom. When we add an Alka-Seltzer tablet to the oil and water solution, it will cause bubbles to form within the layer of oil."

The results: As stated, the oil did stay at the top, whereas the water remained on the bottom. After added the Alka-Seltzer tablet, we noticed that the "fuzziness" of the tablet caused purple bubbles to form within the layer of oil.

Why did the oil stay on the top as opposed to mixing with the water?


We learned that oil is actually less dense than water. In Layman's terms, oil weighs less than water does, hence why it remained at the top of the water bottle. After dissolving in the layer of water, the tablets formed a gas, which caused bubbles to rise to the oil layer, taking some purple water with them.

Well, that's enough of a science lesson for today! I hope everyone learned a little from our fun project. Pictures to come soon as we will be doing two more tests this week to validate our hypothesis.

Following the experiment, we recorded our observations in writing as well as with the use of a diagram. We all understood that this is a very important process while conducting an experiment.

This took up a majority of the day. However, we did have french, music, and some centers to conclude our warm, sunny Tuesday at St. Jude's Academy.

Have a great night!

Miss H.