Cold Water Comets With M&M's

Use cold water currents to make M&M’s into comets!

What you need:

• clear glass baking dish (9 x 13 inch or larger recommended)
• warm water
• ice pack, or zip bag full of ice

What to do:

1. Fill the dish with about 1 inch of warm water
2. Place the ice pack at one end of the dish
3. Place a few M&M’s in the water near the ice pack
4. Watch the color spread. Does it make a comet tail?

What’s happening:
The ice pack cools the water around it, making it denser. The denser water sinks to the bottom of the pan. This pushes the bottom layer of water towards the other side of the pan, carrying the dissolving candy color along. The white coating underneath the candy shell adds white streaks as it dissolves.

Variations

• To make a comet without using ice, place the M&M’s on one side of the dish, then lift the edge of the dish and slide a towel underneath to prop it up. Gravity will pull the dense sugar water downhill, making a comet.
• If you don’t have M&M’s handy, try this with food coloring.

From the book Candy Experiments
Idea adapted from the book Awesome Ocean Science by Cindy Littlefield