Dancing Fruit Experiment

Satruday Science Blog Hop and Link Up

It’s Saturday which means it is time for Saturday Science.  Every Saturday I will be linking up with  some amazing bloggers to bring you the Saturday Science Blog Hop and Link Up. I still remember the day in 5th grade when my teacher showed us the Dancing Fruit experiment for the first time.   That memory came back to me out-of-the-blue and is what caused me to put on some music, pour some fizzy soda and introduce my kids to one of the coolest (and easiest) science project around.   This is probably one of the simplest science projects you could possibly do, and you know how much we love simple science. 🙂

What you need:

• 2 tall, clear cups or containers, any type of clear cup will do
• Some clear carbonated soda – We used Sprite
• Water
• A variety of Fruit but mostly raisins/craisins and grapes (the older the better)

Fill one cup with water and the other with carbonated soda.

You can let your kids take turns guessing what they think will happen when they drop different types of fruit into the water vs. the soda.  My boys were certain that all the fruit would sink.

Then drop in a grape and some raisins into the water and see what happens.  They should sink to the bottom.

Do the same for the carbonated soda and watch what happens.  Initially the fruit might sink but soon after it will pop back up to the top only to do that dance over and over again.  Down, up, down, up, and maybe you’ll see a few spins in there.  Those fruit have moves!

So how does it work?  This experiment is all about the density of the fruit vs the of the liquid it is in.  When you drop the raisins into the water, they are more dense than the water and the sink to the bottom.  No dancing raisins. Boo!  But when you drop them into the soda, the Carbon Dioxide bubbles actually grab onto the surface of the raisins, decreasing the density and allowing them to float to the top.  When they are at the top, the bubbles pop and the raisin sinks back to the bottom only to start the dance all over again until the carbonation is all gone.

Pretty cool huh?

Now it is Time for the Saturday Science Blog Hop Link Up!

 

Please visit all the blogs below, make sure to follow us and link up your science experiments in the link up below!

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Simple Salt Water Density Experiment from Little Bins for Little Hands

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Gravity from Suzy Homeschooler