School Projects: Brina’s Mix Like Magic Science Fair Project

Brina presenting her “Mix Like Magic” Project at the Science Fair!

I am very proud of Brina for all her hard work and time she put into her Science Fair Project.  She worked on her project for several weeks in the evenings after homework and on the weekends.  It was a lot of work, but she was picked as one of the top 2 for her class!!!  She got a 100% on her science experiment journal and 100% on her science experiment presentation!  Way to go BRINA!

She really enjoyed doing the actual science experiments and testing.  The display board was fun for her too.  Probably the most time consuming and least favorite piece of the science fair was the handwritten journal.  By the end of the project she had over 80 pages of hand written information recorded in her science journal.   We have over 2 hours of video of her doing her experiment and that was only one piece of the whole project!

For anyone wanting to replicate the experiment on their own I am going to include the shortened version (I am serious about the amount of hand written notes) of her science project and procedures she used to go through the experiment.  Some of the information such as her title, purpose, hypothesis, and experiment are directly below.  Additional information such as her constants, variables, research, materials, step-by-step procdures, analysis, conclusion, future work, and more are at the very bottom after the pictures.  Hope you enjoy doing this fun experiment as much as she did!

Brina titled her science experiment:  Mix Like Magic

Purpose: 

• Do water molecules move faster or slower based on the temperature of the water?
• Would changing the temperature of the water affect how fast the molecules move?

Hypothesis:

• If the temperature of the water is raised, then the mixing rate will be faster.

 Experiment:

• Take 2 jars of water (one with food coloring) and see how long it takes for the molecules to completely mix on their own using various water temperatures.

Sharing with another kid about her science experiment.

Sharing her Science Experiment with her 3rd Grade Math and Science teacher, Mrs. Johnson.

Listening carefully to Mrs. Johnson’s questions and feedback about the project.

Answering questions!  (Side note – notice how crowded it was during the Science Fair!  It was a tight getting through and very loud so when speaking with someone you almost felt like you were yelling.)  The kids were having a great time though showing off their projects!

Brina’s display board and items!

She brainstormed about a way to demonstrate her project for people to see since she couldn’t easily do the water.  The conclusion was to make a mock demonstration of the experiment using jello and green food coloring.  It turned out pretty well and got the point across.

Adding the drops of food coloring to the jars that will be going on the top!

Concentrating as she counts out the number of food coloring drops!

Jar of room temperature water with green food coloring.

Jar of ice cold water with green food coloring (notice the frosty outside of the glass mason jar).

Jar of very hot water with green food coloring (notice all the little tiny bubbles inside the jar).

Brina’s three mason jars with green food coloring – 1 with hot water, 1 with room temperature water, and 1 with cold water!

Talking with Dad about the experiment, hypothesis, and the next steps!

Brina watching the water molecules mixing “like magic” even though the jar is complete still!

Watching and timing the mixing of the two jars.

First round of testing complete!

Making sure it’s completely mixed

Measuring the temperature of the water in each jar and recording it!

The only assistance she needed was flipping the jars  so that the one with green food coloring was sitting directly on top of the one without food coloring.  The main reasons why we assisted with this piece of the experiment was because the jars were heavy, they needed to be lined up perfectly to avoid spilling, we didn’t want her dumping steaming hot water on herself, and she had to be ready with the stopwatch.  Otherwise, she handled the experiment procedures pretty much on her own.

Brina’s display board as she is working on getting it completed.  She has most of the information now just to add the pictures (the yellow sticky notes are spots where she wants to add pictures to her display board).

Brina’s Science Experiment Journal!  This piece took the longest and required a lot of hand writing, but she got it done!

The back of Brina’s Mix Like Magic Science Journal!

Below is more information about the experiment so you may try it for yourself.  It was a fun project.  A lot of work, but Brina did fantastic!  Her hard work paid off!

Manipulated Variable:

• I will change the temperature of the water.
• There will be one set with hot water, one with room temperature, and one with cold water.

Responding Variable:

• I will test the speed of the water molecules measured by tracking the mixing rate of colored and clear water.
• I will use a stop watch to track this time in order to provide more measurable data for the experiment.

Constants:

• I will keep the volume of water in the jars the same.
• I will use the exact same jars for every trial.
• The stillness of the jars will remain the same for each experiment.

Research:

Water is made up of many small particles.  Even a jar of water that is sitting still on the counter has many little particles that are constantly moving.  Although the many tiny water molecules are packed snugly together in the jar they are always moving.  When you combine water from two jars they will eventually mix together.  Particles from one jar will blend with the particles of the second jar.

The scientist that originally discovered that particles are constantly mixing was Robert Brown, a botanist, back in 1827.  It eventually became known as Brownian Motion.  He noticed that the pollen granules were always in motion in water.  He started this theory even though he never figured out all the reasons behind it.  Later Maxwell, Boltzmann, Einstein, Langevin, Gouy, and others expanded on Brownian Motion Theory.

Water consists of hydrogen and oxygen atoms that are stuck together.  The molecules in water have enough energy to allow the particles to move around each other.  Hot water has more kinetic energy than the cold water.  Therefore, the hot water should move faster than cold water molecules and mix quicker.  You should be able to see this by adding food coloring to containers with different temperatures.  The liquid molecules in suspension should move more quickly thus colliding with other suspended particles.*

Materials:

• 6 Clear Glass Jars (same size)
• Dark Food Coloring
• 3 Pitchers
• 3 Divider Cards
• 1 Spoon
• Container of Petroleum Jelly
• 2 Jelly Roll Pans
• Thermometer
• Stop Watch (or Timer)
• Pencil & Paper

 Experiment (Step-By-Step Procedures):

1. Create a chart to record your data from all the trial
2. Put petroleum jelly around the rims of all 6 clear glass jars.
3. Put jelly roll pans on the counter top and put 3 jars in each one.
4. Fill 1 pitcher of water full of room temperature, 1 pitcher full of cold water (and place it in the fridge until you need it), and 1 pitcher of hot water.
5. Get the Pitcher of Hot Water and fill one clear jar to the top with the pitcher.  Allow the water to overflow by a trickle.  Use a thermometer to measure the temperature of the water and record it on your chart.  In the other jelly roll pan fill up another jar ¾ full of hot water.  Add 5 drops of dark food coloring and stir until mixed.  Slowly fill that jar until at the top with a small trickle of water overflowing.
6. Use the divider card to cover the opening of the jar containing the colored water.  Carefully turn over the jar and place it on the jar with clear hot water.  Once the water as stopped moving remove the divider card and start timing to see how long it will take for the two jars to mix completely.  Record the time on the chart.
7. Repeat Procedure Step #5 this time using room temperature water and record it.
8. Repeat Procedure Step #5 this time using cold water and record it.
9. Repeat Procedure Steps #5 to #7 for another 5 to 7 times and record the data on the chart.

Analysis:

I did my experiment over 2 days, however, I kept all the items the same.  The data from the 7 trial experiments was collected, recorded, and analyzed.  The information that I collected during my experiment was inconclusive.   

Conclusion:

Upon the completion of my experiment I brainstormed a few ideas of why there were some larger variances with my data.  The data from my experiment was inconclusive.  Based on the data I collected I cannot confirm that my hypothesis was indeed correct.    Although, I followed the experiment the best I could there were too many variables that may have prevented the experiment from showing consistent results.   When you look at my data collection chart and graph you can see there are not regular patterns evolving from the 7 trial experiments I performed.

Ideas on why I did not prove my hypothesis to be true:

• On Day 2 I switched to a different bottle of food coloring.  Did that alter the experiment?
• When removing the divider cards were the jars bumped a little possibly skewing the results?
• It is somewhat subjective per person when the 2 jars from each set actually appear to be mixed.
• I decided to add 10 drops of food coloring on Day 2 to see if that would help me see the mixing process better.  Did that make a difference in the results?
• The glass jars had some reflection and refraction occurring depending on which angle you stood and looked at them.  Did that make a difference?
• Both the hot and cold water were taken from the kitchen sink, however, the room temperature water was taking from the Reverse Osmosis Water Filter System.  Did that have an impact on my experiment?
• I did not wait very long between stacking the 2 jars and removing the divider card.  Was I pulling the card too soon and the water molecules were still moving too much from stacking the jars to give accurate results?

Future Work

• In future experiments I would like to try a variety of different tests to see which would result in the experiment matching with my hypothesis statement.
• Would a horizontal container with a divider instead of a vertical one work better?
• A non-rounded container may have less refraction issues.
• The use of a color chart may help eliminate the subjectiveness of when the 2 jars are indeed mixed completely.
• It may be better to wait longer for the water to stop moving once set up before pulling the divider card, however, will waiting cause it to cool too much?  It would be interesting to see the results.
• There are a lot of things I could change, retest, and alter to see if I could produce the results outlined in my hypothesis.

*Research bibliography and other references are available upon request. We didn’t include all the information in her journal to save a little space, but are happy to share if you wish to have it.