Why Won’t It Mix?

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

You have probably heard this before, but taking care of the world is very important.

Different methods, such as recycling and saving energy, are ways to help in the process of taking care of the earth! Sometimes, incidents occur that can be dangerous to life and the earth, such as oil spills. When oil spills into the ocean, many animals may be harmed.

If you were to take a close look at an oil spill, you would notice that the oil and the water do not mix together. There is a specific reason for this, but before you find out why, it will be helpful to learn about liquid measurements.

Liquid measurements are different from measurements used for calculating weight. Some liquid measurement units are teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, pints, quarts, gallons, etc. For this lesson, you will be measuring in milliliters (also known as mL). In order to measure liquids in milliliters, you will need to use measuring tools such as a graduated cylinder, which you will use in this lesson.

Now, what was all this talk about oil and water? Let’s learn more with Dr. Z!

Oil and water may be liquids, but they both have different densities! Since oil is “heavier” than water, the oil sat on top of the water inside the test tube. Even if you were to put oil and water in a ½-liter bottle and shake the bottle up, the liquids still would remain separated. It does not matter how much oil and water you have; oil will always sit on top of water.

If you do not have a graduated cylinder when conducting this experiment, there are many ways of measuring milliliters without using this specific measuring tool. For instance, you can measure milliliters by using a teaspoon. Check out these conversions below to see how you can use teaspoons to measure out milliliters!

• 1 teaspoon = approx. 5 milliliters (mLs)
• ½ teaspoon = approx. 2.5 milliliters (mLs)
• ¼ teaspoon = approx. 1.25 milliliters (mLs)
• ¹⁄₈ teaspoon = approx. .75 milliliters (mLs)

In addition to this, you may even use a small jar if you do not have a test tube.

• Well, now, how does what you learned so far explain what those objects in the beginning of the lesson are and how they work?

Continue on to the Got It? section to find out!