Hooked on Science: Scared pepper

Have you ever wondered why some insects can walk on water? It has to do with surface tension, and using a few things from around the house you can do a pretty cool experiment with surface tension that might get you "Hooked on Science."

Ingredients

• Bowl
• Pepper
• Toothpick
• Dish-washing detergent

Instructions

STEP 1: Fill the bowl 3/4 of the way with water.

STEP 2: Sprinkle pepper on the surface of the water.

STEP 3: Dip the tip of the toothpick into the dish detergent.

STEP 4: Touch the tip of the toothpick to the surface of the water and watch what happens.

Explanation

The dish detergent weakens the surface tension and causes the pepper to move away from the toothpick.

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