Investigating the Line

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In the related activity called "Colors Collide or Combine," learners are intrigued by the apparent "line" that forms where colors from M&M coatings meet but do not mix. In this activity, learners investigate whether this non-mixing property is unique to M&M's and find that it happens whenever similar liquids come together. [Activity is publicly available through a web crawler capture on Archive.org. Activity write-up only, images are unavailable.]

Quick Guide

Preparation Time:
10 to 30 minutes
Learning Time:
30 to 45 minutes
Estimated Materials Cost:
1 cent - $1 per group of students
Age Range:
Ages 8 - 14
Resource Types:
Activity, Experiment/Lab Activity, Lesson/Lesson Plan
Language:
English

Materials List (per group of students)

  • 2 Different colored M&M’s
  • Room-temperature water
  • Clear plastic container
  • Crayons or colored pencils
  • Bucket or large bowl
  • Paper Towels
  • Dropper with red corn syrup
  • Dropper with blue corn syrup
  • Student Activity Sheet

Keywords

Subjects

  • Physical Sciences
    • Chemistry
      • Solutions
    • States of Matter
      • Liquids

Informal Categories

  • Food and Cooking

Audience

To use this activity, learners need to:

  • see
  • see color
  • touch

Learning styles supported:

  • Involves hands-on or lab activities

Other

Components that are part of this resource:

This resource is part of:

Access Rights:

  • Free access

By:

  • Kessler, James H. ; Galvan, Patricia M.

Rights:

  • All rights reserved, American Chemical Society, 2007