Floating & Sinking

When it comes to talking about things that float and things that sink there is one answer we always is true. We know that rocks will sink and wood will float. Is this always true? The question is do we always know that rocks are going to sink and wood is always going to float. I hate to be the bear of bad news but sometimes they lie to you. Not all rocks sink some do float and not all wood floats it does sick. 

This is Pumice rock. This is one type of rock that floats.

Pumice rock comes from a volcano it is formed after a volcano's force pushed air into the rock. That makes the pumice very light. It usually floats for a while, when water gets into the rock it starts to sink a little.


As we observed and watch our professor drop a ton of rocks and a ton of wood pieces into water we got to understand many things. When we watched the rocks go clear to the bottom we immediately decided all rocks sink. Then he did the same thing with the wood but all the wood float. They he through in  one piece of wood and one rock but they did total opposites. How does that happen?
In rocks we know that there are foam cells that are closed. Meaning water can't get into them when immersed in water. When closed cells are filled with air the density of a rock can be less than waters density. Meaning the rock will float. This is the same concept with wood.  
Remember that an object will float if it less dense than the liquid it is placed in. An object will sink if it is more dense than the liquid it is placed in. 

We learned many things in class and also got to experiment in for ourselves by making a boat out of certain materials. We were given six straws, aluminum foil, and tape. We had to figure out how we were going to make the boat float. We we made our boat we tested it in the water by putting metal washers on top. Our group got to 45 washers on top before our boat gave out and took in water. So, after that was done we tried to make a new boat but with same material. When we did it the second time we only got 38 washers on it before it took water and sank. We tried just two ways but there were many options to getting our boat to hold multiple washers and still float. 

On Friday we tried to get a flinker meaning, we wanted it to float and sink half way. We didn't want it to sit on the bottom or float on the top. We wanted it to try and be in the middle of the water. Our group tried many things to get in the middle. We were super close but it just bobbed up and down. We tried many entrance point but was either to heavy or to light. We could not get the density right. After reading about our experiment remember yo can try many thing on your own with supervision on how to get certain things to float as well as sink. You can even try to get a flinker just like we did. Maybe you will have better luck than our group had. 

Picture Cited Lists:
I borrowed the picture from this website. https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/solving-mystery-floating-rocks-pumice

Milk Lab

We did in an experience in science class on what would happen if you took 2% milk, food coloring, and dish soap? What we found out was interesting things that happen to the milk when mixing some food coloring is the dye made circles in the milk and then would expand except for yellow. Then we would add dish soap just a drop and amazing things happened.

Figure 1: Milk & Food Coloring

Figure 2: Milk, food coloring, and dish soap

 As you can see from the figure 1 the milk allowed the dye to form a circle for each color. It did not mix any colors together. As you can tell from the picture this experiment was interesting from the start but wait till it gets to the dish soap being added.




As you can see in figure 2 when adding the dish soap it made the colors blend together a little more. When there was no dish soap you can see the colors as plain as can be. Once we added the dish soap into the dye mixture and milk it makes like a star figure. The dish soap chemicals go right through the dye to separate the colors.

As we let the dye and soap sit for awhile we came up with an interesting mixture it was super unique to see the mixture change.

Figure 3: Mixture is changing

 As you can see from all three figures it was in interesting an unique concept that allows all students to see and react just like we did.
Next, I will show you some pictures of how we changed a few of the things and what they did differently was just WOW....

 We tried four different experiments with different milk. We used 2% milk as shown in the first three pictures. We also did one with Fat Free Milk, Whole Milk, and Half and Half Milk. In the last experiment with the milk we did Whole Milk warmed up in the microwave for about 15 seconds. We then pour the warm milk into the dish and added the food coloring. It did the same thing with color separation but when we added the dish soap bigger things happened. In the warm milk it kept on working longer than the regular cold milk.

Figure 1: Whole Milk Warm 

Figure 2: Whole Milk Warm Mixture after Dish Soap 

As you can see we had a great time being able to experiment with different kinds of milk. That each milk told a different story. If they were cold milk they did something different than warm milk.

Fortune Fish

We did an experiment on a Fortune Teller Fish. This fish is a miracle fish because it tells you personal things about you. I think it is very interesting how something as small as this could tell so much. This fish has a story to tell everyone and giving the knowledge on the back of the package tells us what everything he does in the palm of our hand. It is unique and very interesting to learn, see, and experience. 

What did you do to investigate your fortune fish?

As I went about this investigation I tried many things including water, heat, and having other people try different experiences. When submerge the fish into water for less than 10 seconds, I took it out and dried and put back in my hand it did nothing. I left it to dry out for a day and it happen to be able to move everything the next day. It was super shocking for me to see that. I didn't understand it at first but it makes sense the more you look at it. 

Overall, when I look at the experiment I think The fish grabs onto the moisture on the surface of your palm. We as humans hands have a lot of sweat glands, with that being said the plastic (fish) is immediately bonded to moisture. 

What did I learn through this activity? 

That this fortune fish can not make anything happen without the moisture from the palm of your hand. With that being said when you try other parts of your hand and body you can tell that the fish has no moisture to continue to work.