Dissolving Science Experiment- What Dissolves in Water?

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We tried a simple new science experiment this week. My kids wanted to know what dissolves in water, so we did a fun dissolving science experiment.

How to Do the Dissolving Science Experiment:

To do this simple dissolving science experiment, you need just a few simple kitchen ingredients, several glasses and spoons and some water.

Fill each glass about half way with water. 1 cup of water is a good amount! We did a glass of cold water and a glass of hot water for each solution to see if ti made a difference when dissolving our substances.

We chose several different kitchen ingredients and tested to see whether or not they would dissolve in water. I let me kids help choose the substances.

For our experiment we tested flour, sugar, baking soda, table salt and powdered milk. You can choose any variety of solid substances. I also recommend trying out vegetable oil as it will have a very different reaction than the other we tried!

Before you start the experiment, give kids a chance to make their hypotheses. Let them guess whether each substance will be soluble in water or not. Use my Scientific Method Printable Set to help you out! It has a great investigating science sheet to help you with the process of any experiment!

Add 1 Tbsp of each substance into your glasses of water.  Use a spoon to stir each solution to see what happens. If they dissolve quickly, try adding more of each substance to see how much you can dissolve!

The Science Behind The Dissolving Science Experiment

When you dissolve something in water, it is called a solution. The substance that dissolves is called the solute and the water or other substance you dissolve it into is called the solvent.

Dissolving is what happens when the solute breaks up from larger groups of molecules into smaller groups or individual molecules. For instance, with a salt water solution, when the salt dissolves into the water, larger crystals of salt are broken apart by the water molecules.

When a solution reaches the point where no more can dissolve in the water, it is called saturated.

Have fun with your little scientists!

Try more fun science experiments from my site:

Rainbow Sugar Density Experiment

Rising Water Science Experiment

Elephant Toothpaste