Keep the tension up in the classroom. The class first observes as the teacher creates a dome of water above a glass by adding paperclips into an already full glass. Classmates then work in pairs to see how many drops of water can fit onto a coin. The activity finishes up with the teacher demonstrating how soap reduces surface tension using pepper with water and food coloring with milk.

Concepts

water, surface tension, milk

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Show a video of an insect walking across the surface of water to show an example of the effects of surface tension
• Demonstrate how the surface tension of water is enough to float a needle

Classroom Considerations

• A penny can be used instead of the 10 cent coin as described in the activity

Pros

• Provides a record-keeping sheet for students to use
• Includes pictures of different portions of the investigation

Cons

• None