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Science Rocks!


Cauldron Bubbles

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Sent in by:
Margaret of Jackson, NJ

Mix up a bubbly brew.
Materials

Materials Needed


  • clear glasses
  • water
  • oil
  • salt
  • sugar
  • sand

Instructions

Instructions


  1. Check with an adult before you begin.
  2. In the ZOOMscis, Dancing Raisins and Dancing Raisins II, you can make different objects fall and rise in water. You can do this with bubbles of oil too!
  3. Fill a glass half full of water.
  4. Add about a half-inch of oil. The oil will float on top because it is less dense than the water.
  5. Pour in some salt. What do you see?
  6. When you pour in the salt, it brings a bubble of oil down with it. The salt and the oil together are more dense than the water, so they sink. When the salt dissolves in the water, the oil floats back to the top because now it is less dense than the water.
  7. See if you can make cauldron bubbles with different materials. The ZOOMers tried sugar and sand.
  8. Make predictions about what you think will happen with each different material.
  9. Record your results and send your discoveries to ZOOM!


What happens if you make Cauldron Bubbles using hot water? How about if you use very small amounts of salt? In the ZOOMsci, What's More Dense?, you can compare the density of different liquids. Can you make Cauldron Bubbles with liquids other than oil and water? Think of one variable to test, make some predictions and share your results with the ZOOMsci-entific community.

Some of your Results

Starr, age 9 of Lubbock, TX wrote:
well at first we had to wait then, it started to bubble like crazy!!!

Cassidy, age 10 of Wynantskill, NY wrote:
it bubbled up when I put salt in the cup of water!

Nusrat, age 10 of New York wrote:
there was bubbles all over my bathtub!!!

Anna of IL wrote:
When I put salt in it only a few bubbles came up. Then it stopped.

Shelby, age 10 of Perth, WA wrote:
It worked great but I found if you put more oil it works better!

Domokito, age 6 of Saint Louis, MO wrote:
it fizzed and had reactions. I used baking powder and water.

Tori, age 12 of Suwanee, GA wrote:
I had loads of bubbles come up when I poured in the salt.

Vithiya, age 14 of Malaysia wrote:
I use some food colouring in it and it was awesome! The teachers were really attracted by this experiment!

Alayzia, age 10 of Mount Vernon, NY wrote:
it bubbled everywhere.

Marcus of Lauderdale Lakes, FL wrote:
The experiment looked like lava.

Faith of Schweinfurt, Germany wrote:
The bubbles went up and down, just lide a lava lamp! It was so cool!

Christa, age 11 of Saint Croix wrote:
i used it and it was cool! I added blue color and it looked like a lava lamp.

Savannah, age 11 of Dothan, AL wrote:
I saw the bubbles in the experiment and it really works!

Indira, age 14 of Malaysia wrote:
it was cool! it make more bubbles. I try it wif food colouring, and my bubbles were colourful!

Emily of Olympia, WA wrote:
When I did the experiment there were big bubbles. The bubbles were yellow and it looked like blobs of oil.

Jamie, age 4 of Jacksonville, FL wrote:
It was prity. my mommy mad it peenk!

Shelby, age 13 of Tampa, FL wrote:
I added food coloring and it looked awesome.

Olivia, age 13 of Houston, TX wrote:
the bubbles appeared verry quickly and it was fun to do.

Pipeert of Mexico wrote:
It bubled up.

Shelby of Tampa, FL wrote:
I did it for something that is like a science fair flea market. It is supposed to interest little kids and it worked perfectly when I did it! I added food coloring and it was sooo cool! Im sure it will be awesome when I have to perform it in front of those kids! it was awesome!!!

Chelsey, age 9 of Philadelphia wrote:
when I was using it & I put my last ingreediant I was done and I saw bubbles

Jennifer, age 11 of New Mexico, NM wrote:
it looked amazing. I put food coloring and it looked like a lava lamp but smaller. I even got 1st place in my 5th grade science fair

Chanda, age 12 of Wyoming wrote:
It started to fizz anmd a lot of bubbles came up with the water.

Antonisha, age 11 wrote:
It fizzed so loud, the bubbles were big. It wa fun!!!

Janina, age 5 of Albama, AL wrote:
Bubbles cam up

Joshua, age 8 of Canada wrote:
when I put soda; jucie shuger it was giagant bubble

Madison, age 8 of Biloxi, MS wrote:
bubbles spilled over the top and spilled down the sides.

Robyn, age 10 of Jersey City, NJ wrote:
I added food coloring, glue and baking soda and it looked like a really colorful lava lap.

Angues of Green Bay, WI wrote:
when I used regular water the bubels came to the top and popped when we added warm water the bubles moved

Alissa, age 11 of Mount Horeb, WI wrote:
it was cool I saw a lot of bubbles

Beana of Burbank, WA wrote:
Well we did the Sand, Salt, Sugar with oil. It was AWESOME. It gave us a 3-D View. Then we mixed it all together and it gave us more bubbles.

Rachelle, age 13 of Lake Worth, FL wrote:
when I put the salt in the water and oil it really look like a lava lap it went up and down it was really cool. the I did the sugar I went up and down but not as much as salt, after that I did baking soda I heard fizzing but it din't see it. It sounded like little bubbles poping. so if you were to do then science project on that it would be salt that looked more like a lava lap.


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