Hooked on Science: Hair gel color mixing

Make your own rainbow of hair gels using just food coloring and a few things from around the house.

Materials

* Clear hair gel

* Food coloring

* Four squeeze bottles

* Five zip-top bags

Instructions

STEP 1: Fill each of the squeeze bottles half of the way with clear hair gel.

STEP 2: Using the food coloring, add a different color to each squeeze bottle. Fill the rest of the squeeze bottles with clear hair gel, screw on the tops and vigorously shake each bottle.

STEP 3: Squeeze two different colors into a zip-top bag without mixing. Close the bag, mix and observe.

STEP 4: Hold the bag up to the light and observe.

Explanation

When two primary colors are mixed together, you create a secondary color. Mixing blue and red creates purple, mixing red and yellow creates orange and mixing yellow and blue creates green.

Jason Lindsey is a science outreach educator with Hooked on Science.

Check out his website www.hookedonscience.org for webcasts and experiments that might get you hooked on science. Send him your science questions at jlindseyhookedonscience.com.