Kids love magic, and if it is colorful they are simply thrilled. We can create magic with some simple kitchen supplies such as milk. This is an easy way to teach kids some principles of chemistry as well. So let us see what all we need for our magic milk experiment.
Materials required
Milk (full fat milk is the best option)
Wide bottomed bowl or tray
Food colors (3 to 4 different colors)
Liquid soap
Cotton swab
Procedure
- Pour milk into the flat tray or bowl. There should be sufficient milk to cover the entire surface of the bowl.
- Add a few drops of the food colors to the milk. Squirt the colors here and there over the milk.
- Dip the end of the cotton swab in the liquid soap. Let the cotton be completely coated with soap solution.
- Now dip this soap-covered end of the swab in the milk.
- See the magic being created! As the cotton swab touches the surface of milk, food colors spread everywhere as though touched by a magical wand. Kids will love this, and will ask for more.
What we learn
This magic milk experiment is fun. A riot of colors in milk is surely a beautiful sight. This magic was created due to some specific chemical properties of soap as well as milk. Let us understand it better.
Soap molecules have a specific structure. They have a hydrophilic end which loves water, and a hydrophobic end which runs away from water. The hydrophilic end or the ionic end easily dissolves in water, and a hydrophobic end easily attaches to nearby oils and fats.
Milk has water, fats, and proteins in it. When soap solution comes in contact with milk, the hydrophobic ends of the soap molecules move away from water and get attracted to the milk fats, while the other end dissolves in water.
When the soap molecules make their way towards the fat molecules due to the force of attraction, they end up moving the water attached to them as well. This movement of water molecules causes the displacement of food coloring molecules floating in the milk. Thus we see the magical movement of colors.
Want to experiment more with milk? You can turn milk into plastic in another easy experiment. Do check it out.
