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Science Rocks!


Dancing Raisins

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Sent in by:
Mary-Elizabeth of Tallassee, AL

These little guys can groove!
Materials

Materials Needed


  • tall clear glass
  • raisins
  • club soda that has a lot of bubbles (This won't work if the club soda is flat.)

Instructions

Instructions


  1. First, pour the club soda in the glass.
  2. Next, drop in half of a raisin.
  3. Wait at least 20 to 30 seconds and watch what happens to the raisin. (The raisin should rise and fall.)
  4. The reason why the raisin floats to the top is because the bubbles stick to the sides of the raisin and make the raisin more buoyant. Buoyant means that something floats more easily. The bubbles make the raisin float the way a life jacket makes a person float.


Now, start to experiment. Think of a question that you'd like to answer. Like, "Can I get something that is heavier than a popcorn kernel to float using bubbles? Will a walnut or a super ball float?" Make a prediction, test it out, and share your results in the ZOOMsci feedback area.

Some of your Results

Mary, age 6 of Chattanooga, TN wrote:
The raisin went up and down. I put a Sebastian crab toy in it and it sank but then went up and down. I tried a half of a grape and it sank but then it went up and down too. It was fun.

Aysia, age 9 of Cincinnati, OH wrote:
the rasins danced for20 miniutes

Chandler, age 12 of Richmond, VA wrote:
it did not dance but it did make more bubbles appear in the glass

Marquise, age 8 of Lacey, WA wrote:
the raisins started dancing when the soda wasn't cold

Madison, age 9 of Killingly, CT wrote:
I dropped half of a raisin in, but it didn't rise. But it worked with a whole raisin.

Tommy & Michael of Missouri, MO wrote:
a raisin danced and so did half of a grape it's cool

Alexis, age 9 of Long Beach, CA wrote:
It was cool I had it for a fourth grade project it was terrific some floted up and some stayed down!

Nate, age 11 of Coconut Creek, FL wrote:
the grape and club soda worked the best. it worked for 20 minutes.

Antionette, age 12 of Atlanta, GA wrote:
When I did the expriment the raisins begain to move up and down. So I added more baking soda, vinger and mountian splash

Monique, age 13 of Baltimore, MD wrote:
it work I put 20 raisins in the cup they all floated up

Adam, age 9 of Rio Rancho, NM wrote:
I put the raisins in the cupt and a couple seconds later they started dancing it was really fun.

Kayla, age 11 of Defiance, OH wrote:
We had to choose a science experiment for science and we picked dancing raisins but we used a date, dried banana, raisin, yougurt covered raisin and a peanut. It was fun!!!

Nate, age 11 of Coconut Creek, FL wrote:
i used choclate chips, grapes, and rasins. it worked good.

John, age 12 of Lone Tree, CO wrote:
I was really suprised, the raisins really moved around. I also tried it with dried cherrys and little peices of chocolate. This is one of the coolest projects I've ever done.

Julia, age 10 of Woodbridge, NJ wrote:
Well my class just loved it!! I thought it was soo cool too see rasins ance.

Jason, age 9 of Callahan, FL wrote:
I used a red seedless grape as well as a raisin and it actually took longer for the raisin than it did for the grape to start "Dancing". This was fun!

Nik, age 9 of Queen Charlotte, BC wrote:
it was so cool I took out my camera and made a movie!!!

Keval, age 11 of Aliso Viejo, CA wrote:
When I kept the raisin in Sprite it kept on going uo and down

Morgan, age 11 of Victoria, TX wrote:
the fist time I did the experiment I worked but it took a little longer than 30seconds it took like 45 at least for them to start dancing but when they did start dancing it was soo cool and funny

Tracy, age 8 of Mendenhall, MS wrote:
They danced up and down the glass for 20-30 minutes. The raisins danced longer in the 7Up soda than the sprite soda.

Julia wrote:
The raisins would always pop up and down

Julia, age 14 of Twillingate, NI wrote:
I made my own carbonated liquid with water vinger and soda. The raisin did a lot of dancing. It was a hit at my science fair

Amanda, age 10 of San Francisco, CA wrote:
the raisins jumped up and down in the soda

Carley, age 16 of Mandan, ND wrote:
ouy of all the things we used the raisins floated the best.

Sarah, age 10 of Fredricksburg, VA wrote:
It was awesome!!! If I were to rate it I would give it a 100. The raisin actually went up and down. I would highly recommend this science project for any age.

Bob, age 13 of Hollywood, CA wrote:
it bobs up and down. I just want to point out that it also works when you put vinegar and baking soda in water.

Mike, age 12 of Dearborn, MI wrote:
when I did it, I was shocked bescause one of the raisins flew out of the cup!!!

Peyton, age 10 of Berry wrote:
When I did this the raisin just rised & went back down. It didn't come back up.

Colleen, age 11 of Vancouver, WA wrote:
It woked so good my class loved it


not yet implemented