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Do All Liquids Dissolve in Water?
When people wash dishes by hand, they use a liquid dish detergent. The dish detergent does not sit in a glob in the bottom of the sink—it dissolves in the water. Try this experiment to see if all liquids dissolve in water.
Do not drink any of the liquids in this experiment.
What You Need
What You Do
What You Need
- Isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol)
- Masking tape
- Corn syrup
- 3 drinking straws
- Vegetable oil
- 5 mL measure
- Water
- 15 mL measure
- 6 clear plastic cups
What You Do
- Use pieces of masking tape to label three of the cups with these labels: Alcohol, Corn Syrup, Vegetable Oil.
- Use masking tape to create labels for the other three cups: Alcohol + Water, Corn Syrup + Water, Vegetable Oil + Water.
- Pour 10 mL of alcohol into the cup with the appropriate label. (Use the cup with the label “Alcohol,” not the cup labelled “Alcohol + Water.”)
- Pour 10 mL of corn syrup into the appropriate cup, and 10 mL of vegetable oil into the appropriate cup.
- Pour 30 mL of water into each of the 3 cups with “+ Water” on the label.
- Pour the alcohol into the cup labelled “Alcohol + Water.” Observe the cup from the side as you pour. Watch what happens and record your observations on the next page.
- Stir the alcohol and water with a straw and see whether the alcohol seems to dissolve in the water. (Keep watching from the side.) Record your observations.
- Repeat steps 6 and 7 for each of the other two liquids (corn syrup and vegetable oil) using a clean straw to stir each mixture. Make sure you pour each liquid into the correct cup. Record your observations after doing each step.
Now Show What You Know!
Complete some questions about the reading selection by clicking “Begin Questions” below.
