Explore Diffusion with Miss America 2020

What conditions affect the diffusion of a substance in water?

Shared by Girl Day Innovator: 3M

Recommended Grade: K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th

Recommended Materials:

• An adult helper
• Two clear glasses
• Water
• Food coloring

The Challenge: Race drops of food coloring in a cup of hot water and a cup of cold water. 

Make a prediction. What might be different about the way the food coloring moves through the cold water and the hot water?

Have you ever colored a picture with marker and noticed that two touching colors begin to bleed together? In class, do you typically sit evenly spaced or all scrunched together? Although one of these refers to chemical properties and the latter social interaction, both are examples or diffusion.

 Activity Video:

Instructions and Procedures:

Visit https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/gives-us/education/science-at-home/diffusion-science-experiment-for-kids/ for the full instructions and explanations.

How does this activity connect to STEM and today's Girl Day theme of Improving Lives: Mind, Body, Medicine? 

This activity is a model of how we get oxygen to all the cells in our bodies.

The food coloring mixes through the hot water faster than it mixes with the cold water. This is because in hot water, the water molecules have more energy and are moving faster than the molecules of cold water. This makes it easier for the dye to get mixed throughout the hot water. Because diffusion happens from high concentration to low concentration, the more molecules are moving, the more opportunities they have to mix together. The high energy hot water model diffusion is important because it’s how we get oxygen to all the cells in our bodies. When deoxygenated blood is in your capillaries in your lungs, the oxygen in your lungs diffuses from a higher concentration in your lungs to the lower concentration in your blood. This allows red blood cells to carry oxygen all over your body.

3M's Science at Home

Welcome to 3M's Science at Home video series: Fun and educational science experiments designed for students ages 6-12.

These simple, at-home experiments conducted by 3M scientists use common household items and are designed to reinforce core scientific principles. School systems, educators, parents, and caregivers are encouraged to use this educational content in virtual classrooms and at home.

Visit our website at 3M.com/scienceathome for more videos!