Saltwater Experiment

All Ages

What You’ll Need

• Small plastic jewels (or grapes, raw eggs or any small, dense item)
• Four clear cups of water
• 2 tablespoons of salt
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 2 tablespoons of baking soda

Directions

1. Dissolve 2 tablespoons of salt in one cup, 2 tablespoons of sugar in another cup and 2 tablespoons of baking soda in the third cup. Leave one cup of plain, fresh water.
2. Label each cup with its contents.
   1. What do you think will happen in each cup when you drop the jewels into the water?
3. Drop the jewels in the water and see what happens!

What We Learned

• Salinity (the saltiness of water) is chemistry! Your tap water is also treated for quality and composition.
• Saltwater is denser than freshwater. Density is how much space a substance takes up in an object. In this case, it means that salt takes up space in the water it occupies.
• The objects in the baking soda mix should float because it contains a type of salt.
• There is more than one property in the baking soda that will produce carbon dioxide bubbles, causing the jewels to float in the middle of the mixture.