WALKING WATER

Walking water!?  Have you ever heard of such a crazy thing?  Today we experimented with primary colors, water, paper towels, and some regular old Ball jars.  Here was the question: what will happen if you connect cups of different color water with paper towels?  We had a pretty good idea that the colors would  mix to form new colors, but we had no idea we were going to get such a rainbow!

First, we were very diligent scientists and made some great observations.

Then, we were very diligent scientists and made some reasonable hypotheses.

1. The colors won't mix because they're not in water and the paper towels are not attached. (5)
2. The water will stay, but the food coloring with "walk" over to the empty cups.  The first empty cup will turn orange.  The second empty cup will turn green.  The colored cups will turn clear. (1)
3. The colors will trade places with each other. (4)
4. Some of the water will evaporate. (2)
5. Half of the water from each cup with "walk" into the empty cups. The first empty cup will turn orange.  The second empty cup will turn green. (3) 

Last, we found out that #5 was correct.  The paper towels absorb the water.  Gravity helps start to equalize the amount of water in each jar.  The red and yellow mix to make orange.  The blue and yellow mix to make green!  

This is a great experiment to try at home!  Check out this video for step-by-step direction.  Experiment with some new colors!