Magic Pepper

Ingredients

• 1 clear plate (I recommend ceramic)

• 1 bowl

• 1 cup of water

• 1 q-tip

• 1 tablespoon of dish Soap

• Black ground pepper

• Food colouring (optional)

Instructions

• Pour one cup of water onto the plate (feel free to colour the water for fun, I coloured mine blue)

• Sprinkle pepper over the (coloured) water

• Pour a tablespoon of dish soap into a seperate cup

• Dip the q-tip in the dish soap

• Press the q-tip down in the pepper

• Enjoy!

What’s Happening? 

Pepper flakes are lighter than water so normally they float on top. Pepper is hydrophobic, which means that water is not attracted to it. When the soap is added it changes the surface tension, the water wants to keep the surface tension like it was so it pulls away from the soap, bringing the pepper with it. 

Recipe borrowed from https://lifeovercs.com/magic-pepper-experiment-simple-science-for-kids/#:~:text=The%20magic%20pepper%20science%20experiment,why%20they%20float%20on%20top.&text=But%20when%20you%20add%20dish,the%20edges%20of%20the%20container.