Magical Moving Milk Experiment ~ Easy Science Experiments for kids

Science themed birthday party idea, Easy Science Experiments #KidsProjects #Science #EasyScienceExperimentsMy 9 year old LOVES to learn, understanding how things work and why they happen just fascinates her.  When she learned to read she did not want to read any of the books her friends were reading so I thought she did not like to read. That is till I noticed she was taking instruction manuals for her toys to bed and reading them, and cookbooks.  We got her a few science books and all of a sudden she would not put the book down… lol.  She did not get this from me, she got it from her Daddy.  But I am thrilled to have such a smart girl 🙂

So I should not have been surprised when she picked SCIENCE as the theme of her birthday party this year. We did a bunch of fun experiments with the girls and it actually turned out to be one of the most entertaining birthday parties ever.

Milk and food color experiment, what happens when you add soap... a magical thing starts to happen #KidsProjects #Science #EasyScienceExperimentsMagical Moving Milk Experiment

For this experiment you will need:

  • whole milk
  • pie tin or glass dish
  • food coloring
  • cotton swab
  • liquid hand soap or dish soap

Milk and food color experiment, what happens when you add soap... a magical thing starts to happen #KidsProjects #Science #EasyScienceExperimentsPour milk into the bottom of the pie tin, DO NOT shake the milk this trick does not work very good if their are bubbles in the milk. Drop food coloring into the milk.

Milk and food color experiment, what happens when you add soap... a magical thing starts to happen #KidsProjects #Science #EasyScienceExperimentsPut the cotton swab into the milk and see that nothing really happens, their is slight movement but nothing to impressive. Take the other end of the cotton swab and coat it with liquid soap. Put the coated cotton swab into the middle of the milk, don’t move it just watch what happens. The milk will magically start to move all on its own. Take it back out, add some more soap and put it in in a different spot. Watch the milk magically whirl and swirl around, it almost looks like a kaleidoscope.

Milk and food color experiment, what happens when you add soap... a magical thing starts to happen #KidsProjects #Science #EasyScienceExperiments

 

Why does this happen (Explained by Chemistry.about.com)

Milk consists of a lot of different types of molecules, including fat, protein, sugars, vitamins, and minerals. If you had just touched a clean cotton swab to the milk (try it!), not much would have happened. The cotton is absorbent, so you would have created a current in the milk, but you wouldn’t have seen anything especially dramatic happen.

When you introduce detergent to the milk, several things happen at once. The detergent lowers the surface tension of the liquid so that the food coloring is free to flow throughout the milk. The detergent reacts with the protein in the milk, altering the shape of those molecules and setting them in motion. The reaction between the detergent and the fat forms micelles, which is how detergent helps to lift grease off of dirty dishes. As the micelles form, the pigments in the food coloring get pushed around. Eventually equilibrium is reached, but the swirling of the colors continues for quite a while before stopping.

Milk and food color experiment, what happens when you add soap... a magical thing starts to happen #KidsProjects #Science #EasyScienceExperiments

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68 thoughts on “Magical Moving Milk Experiment ~ Easy Science Experiments for kids”

  1. Debbie Bessette

    I did this with my daughter then we decided to drop a piece of white paper on top of it, when you take it off it looks tie dyed we used them as card stock and made gifts. Use a heavy paper construction works best.

  2. A Thrifty Mom

    LOVE that we can connect from people all over the world, thanks for watching!

  3. Christina Davis

    My 3 yr old girl is laughing w your boys! She says they are funny

  4. Kristin Henard

    Styrofoam plates are horrible for the environment and aren’t recyclable.

  5. Bonnie Bunny Fehr

    With the different milks you can find which one isolates the dye the most and which one spreads it the dye more easily

  6. Graciela Hambek

    Amazing! Cooper, Bella and Monet (like the painter) are dying to do this at home! Thank you!!

  7. Monica Rodriguez Wilson

    I wonder if you can you do this with soy or rice milk? My kiddo is allergic to dairy. I might test it out.

  8. Reham Nawaz

    Amaiyah and sorayah say this is amazing and want to try this with friend in the park

  9. April Easton

    My 6 year Evan and 8 year old Fred and 3 year old Samantha are all liking this and now they want to do it

  10. Bonnie Bunny Fehr

    The speeds of the colors moving away changed with the fat content in the milk

  11. Bonnie Bunny Fehr

    In chemistry we also tested it with 2% ,whole milk and half and half and we were supposed to test the differences

  12. Bonnie Bunny Fehr

    hello from Pennsylvania 🙂 I did this in chemistry my junior year of high school 🙂

  13. I actually did that with glue with some kids in a class to make art. It takes a few days for the glue to dry and you do it in Styrofoam plates.–when it dries completely you basically have a clear/colorful piece of art to hang in front of the window.

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