This skittles experiment is easy, low cost and provides lots of investigative opportunities. Try using different temperatures of water, white vinegar or even lemonade to discover what happens.
Colourful Skittles Experiment
What you need:
A plate or container – preferably white
Skittles, other coated sweets work too
Water
Instructions
Place your skittles or sweets into a white container, try to alternate the colours.
Carefully pour water into the container, if the skittles move, just push them back into place quickly.
Watch what happens..
Why do the colours spread?
Skittles are coated in food colouring and sugar. When you pour water over the skittles the coloured coating dissolves spreading through the water.
The colour and sugar dissolve into the water and then diffuse through the water, making it the colour of the skittle.
Extension ideas
Can you time how long the colours take to reach the centre of the plate using cold and warm water? Which do you think will be faster?
Try using other sweets, can you find any that work as well as skittles?
Questions to ask and think about
Why do you think the colours don’t mix?
Can you spot the ‘S’ from the skittles? What happens to it?
How could you speed up the reaction?
More science investigations you might like
Hi
cool
so cool
This project is very cool but my brother has one day to return his project which is the same
why does he have to return it
This is school I’m doing this for a science fair thanks