Milk Experiment
By: Sarah Simpson
Worksheet for learning center…
• Milk Experiment-Learning Center
• What is your first prediction, what do you think will happen when we place a plain cotton
swab into the milk?
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• What is your second prediction, what do you think will happen when we place a cotton swab
with dish soap on it into the milk?
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__________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________.
• Draw a picture of what you saw… You can use crayons if you’d like…
Were any of your predictions correct? Circle an answer
• My first prediction was correct---Yes or No
• My second prediction was correct---Yes or No
Materials
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Worksheet
Glass Pie Plate/Dinner plate
2% milk
Food coloring (red, yellow, blue & green)
Dawn Dish soap
Cotton Swabs
Crayons
Clear Plastic Cups
Steps:
• 1. Pour enough milk in the dinner plate to
completely cover the bottom of the plate
& allow the milk to settle
• 2. Add one drop of each of the four colors
of food coloring red, yellow, blue, and
green to the milk.
• 3. Keep the drops close together in the
center of the plate of milk
Steps continued…
• 4. Find a clean cotton swab, make your first
prediction on your worksheet
• 5. After making your prediction, place the plain
cotton swab into the milk and observe.
• 6. Next, take the other end of the cotton swab,
and dip it into the cup of dish soap.
• 7. Make your second prediction on your
worksheet
• 8. Place the dish soap end of the cotton swab
into the milk & observe
Steps Continued…
• 9. Pull the dish soap covered cotton swab out
of the milk
• 10. Draw what you have observed on your
worksheet
• 11. Circle if any of your predictions were
correct on your worksheet.
Why does this happen?
• There is fat in milk, and what happens is
the soap molecules are trying to hook
onto the fat that is in milk; causing the
molecules of fat in the milk to bend, roll,
and twist in all different directions as the
soap molecules race around to join up
with the fat molecules in the soap.
Video
What Have you learned from the video?
• What happens when you use
1% milk, whole milk, half and
half and buttermilk?
Extension
• We could extend this learning center by doing the
color changing milk experiment with Elmer’s glue.
• You place Elmer’s glue onto a plastic plate, place
your drops of food coloring into the glue near the
center.
• Put a drop of soap into the center of the glue, and
observe.
• Let the glue dry overnight, and peel it off of the
plate.
• You now have made your own stained glass.
Sources
• http://www.stevespanglerscience.c
om/experiment/milk-colorexplosion
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
pTe2pqlQWTo