Oil Blob Dance

What You Need:

• Clear drinking glass or plastic cup
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup rubbing alcohol
• Cooking oil
• Eyedropper
• Food coloring (optional)

Instructions:

Watch an oil blob dance between two other liquids! Here’s what to do:

1. Pour the water into the glass.
2. Add a drop or two of food coloring to the water so you can tell which liquid is the water. (optional)
3. Tilt the glass slightly and slowly pour in the rubbing alcohol. Don’t shake the glass, or the two liquids will mix. This is the clear liquid on top of the colored water.
4. Fill the eyedropper with the cooking oil and lower the tip into the layer of rubbing alcohol, but not into the water.
5. Squeeze out a couple of drops of the oil.
6. The oil is lighter than the water and heavier than the rubbing alcohol, so the oil blobs float between the two liquids.

In the photo above, the water is the green layer at the bottom, the rubbing alcohol is the clear layer at the top. You can see the oil blobs in the middle of these other two liquids!