Dish Soap and Milk Color Bursts
Easy
What happens when you touch a drop of dish soap to a plate of milk with food coloring on it? The colors race away from the soap and swirl to the edges in seconds.
Pour a thin layer of whole milk into a shallow dish. Add a few drops of food coloring in the center. Try red and blue and yellow. Dip a cotton swab in dish soap and gently touch the food coloring.
The soap breaks the surface tension of the milk and sends the colors spinning. Hold the swab down longer and watch the colors keep swirling up from the bottom. You can even press a sheet of paper over the swirls to capture a colorful print.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis is that adding soap to the milk will cause the colors to move around in interesting patterns.
Science Concepts Learned
Surfactants
Milk has tiny drops of fat in it. Surfactant molecules in dish soap grab onto that fat. The soap breaks the surface tension of the milk. Colors race away from the soap and swirl to the edges.
Method & Materials
You will pour milk in a dish and add drops of food coloring. Then, using a cotton swab with dish soap on it, touch the center of the food coloring and watch the colors move!
You will need milk, food coloring, dish soap, a dish and cotton swabs.
Kiwi Crate — hands-on STEAM project kits for ages 6–9, delivered monthly. (Affiliate link)
See what’s includedResults
The soap makes the colors move in ways you never expected! Even though the colors start out mixed together, they soon burst apart in a beautiful swirl!
Why do this project?
The magic milk experiment is a fun way to learn how different molecules interact with each other to make colors move in unexpected ways. It's a very easy and fun science experiment that uses things readily available at home, but the science behind it is complex when you consider why the colors constantly move in the milk.
Also Consider
Try using different types of milk, such as skim milk or half & half, to see if the results are different. You can also try different types of soap to see how they affect the movement of colors.
Full project details
Additional information and source material for this project are available below.Related videos
These videos explain the science behind this project and demonstrate key concepts used in the experiment.
Who would have thought that simply adding soap to milk could create such an exciting show of colors in motion! Learn about the chemical reactions behind the magic milk science experiment and explore the different things you can change in the experiment!
You can create a colorful work of art with the magic milk science experiment by dipping a piece of paper onto the milk when you have a colorful masterpiece you want to capture!
Have you ever wondered what happens when you combine a giant tray of milk, drops of food coloring, and a cotton ball soaked in soap? The answer is a continuous dance of colors on the surface of the milk! If you don't believe us, check out the video, or better yet, try it out yourself!
Share this Science Project:
Related Science Fair Project Ideas
Drop baking soda and vinegar into a bottle of oil and water and watch colored blobs rise and sink like a real lava lamp.
Easy
Charge glow-in-the-dark paint and drop a fizzy tablet into oil to create a lava lamp that glows without a black light.
Easy
Drop an antacid tablet into a bottle of oil, water, and glitter to create a sparkling lava lamp that keeps cycling.
Easy
Share this Science Project: