COLUMBIA, S.C. — We have two holidays to celebrate this week - Saint Patrick’s Day and the start of spring. Today’s experiment ties in both of those holidays. The experiment, sometimes called "walking water" will have water defying gravity.
Here’s what you’re going to need.
- 6 clear mason jars
- Red, yellow, and blue food coloring
- Paper towels
- Water
To set up this experiment, place your 6 jars in a circle with their edges touching.
Next, put about 10-20 drops of food coloring in one jar each, then fill these jars about ¾ full of water. In between each colorful jar, leave an empty jar.
Then, take a piece of paper towel and fold it lengthwise in half twice. You’ll want to do this with 6 paper towels.
Finally, take each paper towel and put one end in an empty jar and one end in a jar with water. Each jar should have two paper towel ends in them!
Now we wait. Make a hypothesis of what you think will happen and why.
A few hours later and our paper towels have soaked up some of the water and moved it to the empty jars! We also have a rainbow of colors between the jars.
But how did water defy gravity and move through the paper towel? It’s through a process called “capillary action”, which is the rising or absorption of liquids through small gaps or holes in some materials. This happens due to the forces of cohesion and adhesion of the water overpowering gravity.
So we were able to make a rainbow for Saint Patrick’s Day, but what does this experiment have to do with spring?
As plants start to bloom this season, they wouldn’t be able to do so without capillary action! This process allows water to climb through the stems of plants, bringing essential nutrients to promote growth.
To challenge yourself and mix up the experiment, try using a couple different brands of paper towels to see which paper towels are able to transport the most water and which ones are able to do it the fastest.