Visitors work with water, salt, sugar, salad oil, alcohol, and vinegar to find out which liquids or solutions conduct electricity.
To show that some liquids and solutions conduct electricity and some do not, and to have visitors prepare simple
solutions and draw inferences from observations.
For 5 stations (1 child per station)
•
25 60 ml plastic dropping bottles
•
5 24 well plates
•
25 3 oz. plastic cups labeled for solutions and liquids
•
5 conductivity testers (buzzer type)
•
Toothpicks as stirrers
•
Plastic wash bottle with distilled water
•
Small plastic spoons to transfer salt and sugar
•
Several liters of distilled water for rinsing well plates
•
100 grams of sugar
•
100 grams of salt
•
100 ml salad oil
•
100 ml vinegar
•
Large bolt or nail for demonstrating the buzzer
•
Paper towels for spills
•
A container of clean water
•
A safe container to dump solutions into and seal (waste container)
!"
#
Each station includes:
•
24-cell well plate placed on a paper towel
•
Labeled dropping bottles with water, salad oil, and vinegar
•
A plastic cup containing sugar with spoon
•
A plastic cup containing salt with spoon (Two children can share a set of cups with salt and sugar)
!
$
Have visitors do the following:
1. Participant must wear a pair of safety goggles before beginning!
2. Put a small amount of each liquid in separate wells in the well plate.
3. Dip the ends of both wires (electrodes) into each liquid and
observe what happens. If the buzzer sounds, then the liquid
conducts electricity and has ions in it.
4. Add either salt or sugar to the liquids in the well plate. Stir mixture
to dissolve the solid and test the resulting solution, as done in step
3, to see if it conducts electricity.
%
&
#
•
All solution liquids and solids can go down the drain