What you’ll learn: This activity is a great way to teach your kid about surface tension and water molecules.
What you need:
- Two paper clips
- Tissue paper
- A bowl
- Water
- A pencil (with eraser on the end)
What to do:
- Fill the bowl with water
- Try to make a paper clip float in the water (it doesn’t work!)
- Cut out (or tear out) a 2 – 3 inch square of tissue paper
- Drop the tissue flat onto the surface of the water (make sure you’re gentle!)
- Place the second paper clip flat onto the tissue. Try not to touch the water or the tissue paper and be very gentle.
- Using the eraser end of the pencil, poke the tissue (not the paper clip) until the tissue paper sinks in the water
- Watch your paper clip boat float!
After you’ve sailed your paper clip boat:
- Discuss surface tension (Surface tension is a property of the surface of a liquid that allows it to resist an external force. It is like a “skin” on the top of water. This property is caused by cohesion of similar molecules)
- Explain that the paperclip is not really floating, but is actually being held up by surface tension
- Discuss examples of this phenomenon in the real world (insects use it to float on water, as does the Basilisk lizard)
