Materials Required:
l Newspaper
l Scissors
l 2 drinking glasses
l Water
l Dishwashing liquid
l Spoon
Procedure:
- Cut two paper dolls from newspaper. The size of the figures should be small enough to fit easily into the glasses.
- Now fill two drinking glasses with tap water. Place several drops of dishwashing liquid into one of the glasses and stir with a spoon.
- Hold a paper doll over each glass, then drop the dolls at the same time. The doll that falls into the soapy water gets wet first and sinks to the bottom before the doll in the plain water. Can you explain why?
This Is What Happens:
In this experiment, the dishwashing liquid is acting as a wetting agent. The detergent helps to break the surface tension of the water molecules and allows them to soak into the newspaper. The water in this glass is actually ‘wetter’ than the plain water in the other glass.
