How to Perform Science Experiments Using Sugar
Kids love to consume sugary products—candies, baked goods and soft drinks are on the top of any child’s favorite foods list. However, if you would rather your kids not consume sugar, try using their sugar in a science experiment. There are many fun activities that use sugar that will not leave children bouncing off the walls.
- Investigate the effects that water temperature has on the solubility of sugar. Fill glasses with equal amounts of water but vary the water temperatures. Place a sugar cube into each glass and stir until it completely dissolves. Keep adding sugar cubes until the sugar begins to collect on the bottom of the glass. Hot water will be able to hold more sugar because the water molecules are moving faster and are farther apart, allowing more sugar to fit in the gaps.
- Create a rainbow using different sugar solutions. Place one tablespoon of sugar in a glass and add three tablespoons of water, stirring well. Repeat this for two, three and four tablespoons of sugar all in separate glasses. Add two to three drops of red food coloring to the glass with one tablespoon of sugar, yellow to the glass with two tablespoons, green to the glass with three tablespoons and blue to the glass with four tablespoons. Stir each solution. Because the solutions have different densities, they will not mix for some time. Pour the blue solution first into a glass, and then carefully pour in the green, yellow and red solutions. Pouring over the back of a spoon can help prevent disturbing the layers. The layers will eventually mix and the colors will be lost, but the rainbow will stay in the glass for some time.
- Grow a sugar crystal. Make a growing environment by tying a heavy string to a pencil and laying the pencil across the opening of a jar so the string hangs without touching the bottom or sides of the jar. Boil some water, and slowly stir in sugar until the solution becomes saturated (no more sugar will dissolve in the water). Pour the solution into the jar, making sure the string is in the liquid. Allow the jar to sit for many days undisturbed and check back often to see the crystals start to form on the string.