| Complexity level: | 5 |
| Safety concerns: | This science fair project involves a heat source and water. Care should be taken when handling these. |
Overview
In water, convection occurs when warmer water at the bottom, rises to the surface. If the water cools near the surface it will eventually sink back again to the bottom. This rising and falling of water becomes a cycle.
Density is a measure of the amount of mass an object of a given volume, possesses. At the molecular level, water molecules are further apart from each other at warmer temperatures (as compared to lower temperatures). At warm temperatures, the water becomes less dense. At lower temperatures, water molecules are closer together, becoming denser. This is why warm water rises; it has a lower density than cooler waters.
Salinity is the amount of salt dissolved in water. Salinity affects water density. Refer to resources under the Bibliography section for more information on salinity and density.
Scientific Terms
Materials
- Two large beakers or a heat-proof jar
- Food coloring
- Liquid soap
- Two hot plates
- Water
- Salt
Procedure
- Place the two beakers or jars on the hot plates, side by side.
- Fill both containers half-way with water.
- In the second jar, add salt to the water and stir until all the salt is dissolved. Keep adding salt until you see grains of salt at the bottom of the glass that do not dissolve despite your stirring.
- Add food coloring to thenwater and mix thoroughly.
- Pour liquid soap into both containers, enough to raise the total fluid level to three quarters of the containers' volume.
- Turn on the hot plates to a low heat setting and observe what happens.
- In which container is the movement of the soap more rapid?
References
? "What is Convection" at the Wise Geek website http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-convection.htm
? "What is density?" at the Whyzz web site http://whyzz.com/what-is-density
? "What is Salinity" at the Wise Geek website http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-salinity.htm