This experiment was invented by Loralee Leavitt. Please do not copy, sell, post, publish, or distribute all or any part of this material without my permission. Instead, feel free to link to this website, and to contact me with questions.
M&Ms and Skittles sink in water--mostly. To see what floats, try this.
M&Ms and Skittles sink in water--mostly. To see what floats, try this.
Floating S from dissolved Skittles
What you need:- Cup of water
- M&Ms or Skittles
- Drop the M&Ms or Skittles in the water, letter side up.
- After a few minutes, look for floating letters. (Do not stir the water--you might break the letters.)
The white letters on M&Ms and Skittles are printed with edible ink that doesn't dissolve in water. When the rest of the candy shell dissolves, the letters peel off and float. Some of the letters break into pieces, but a few should survive intact.
Find a Floating Letters worksheet by Science Gal here!
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ReplyDeleteYou're right, it is definitely cool.
ReplyDeleteOur letters didn't float. :-(
ReplyDeleteWhen I do it, usually only a few letters make it up to the top. Try it with warm water, that might help. And don't stir, whatever you do, because that breaks the letters up.
ReplyDeleteIt also takes a few minutes to do. You might want to put the candy in water, do another experiment, and come back to look at it.
its really really cool, for me 2-4 full s's floated up and when the shells dissolve, there is a rainbow of colors at the bottom of the glass and the skittles start to sink in it...or at least for me
ReplyDeleteYes, the letters float and the rest of the candy sinks. The rainbow of colors at the bottom is really cool, isn't it? If you don't stir, the colors stay separate for a long time.
ReplyDeletethis expeirement is a total joke! jk im doing this for the science fair!:0)
ReplyDelete