Mad Science of Sacramento Valley - Colorful Convection
Channel: Mad Science of Sacramento Valley
Date: 04/06/2015

What You Need:
-Large clear plastic container
-Water
-Red food coloring
-Blue food coloring
-Ice cube tray
-Spoon

What You do:
Step 1: Add blue food coloring to your water until it turns dark blue.
Step 2: Pour the blue water into the ice cube tray. Place the tray in the freezer overnight.
Step 3: Fill the plastic container with water and let it sit for 30 minutes at room temperature.
Step 4: Carefully lower a few blue ice cubes into the water on one side of the container. Add five drops of red food coloring to the 
water at the other side. What happens to the colors?

What's Going on:
This experiment demonstrates convection. Warm water molecules have more energy. These molecules move a lot and take up a
lot of space. Cold water molecules have less energy. They move less and end up being closer together. This makes cold water
denser than warm water. The dense water is blue. We see it sink to the bottom of the container. The warm water is red. We see
it rise and move across the water’s surface. We call this water movement convection. Convection helps form ocean currents. The
Earth’s ocean currents heat and cool the air. They affect the Earth’s weather!

Now Try This:
Ocean currents also flow when one area of water is saltier than another. How could you test this?

Mad Science of Sacramento Valley
(916)779-0390
Sacramento.MadScience.org
info@madsciencesacto.com
Serving Placer, El Dorado, Solano, Amador, Sutter, San Joaquin, Yolo and Sacramento Counties!!!