Hooked on science: Runaway pepper

Using a few ingredients from around the house, you can learn all about a phenomenon called surface tension.

Materials

* Water

* Bowl

* Pepper

* Dish detergent

Instructions

STEP 1: Fill the bowl with water and sprinkle pepper on the water.

STEP 2: Drop several drops of the dish detergent in the center of the bowl.

Explanation

The soap weakens the surface tension of the water. Once the surface tension is weakened, the pepper spreads to the sides of the bowl. The surface tension on water can be strong enough to support some insects.

Jason Lindsey is a Science Outreach Educator with Hooked on Science. Check out his website "Hooked On Science" at hookedonscience.org for webcasts and experiments that might get you hooked on science. Send him your science questions at jlindsey@hookedonscience.org. More science experiments can be found at www.semissourian.com.