Water Wars

Journal Entry - Take out your science journal and answer the following question(s) (use drawings as appropriate):

Have you ever been swimming and felt warm pockets of water? What do you think happens when warm water and cold water come together?

Introduction: Convection is the movement of particles in currents as hot material rises and cool material sinks.

Materials:

• Two beakers
• Two test tubes
• Test tube holder
• Red and blue food coloring
• Cold and hot water
• One large dropper

1. Fill one beaker with hot water and the other beaker with cold.
2. Place a small amount of red food coloring into the hot water beaker, and place a small amount of blue food coloring into the cold water beaker.
3. Fill one test tube half full with hot water and the other half full with cold.
4. Predict what will happen if hot water is placed on top of cold? What do you predict will happen if cold water is placed on top of hot water?
5. Gently squeeze one full dropper of cold blue water against the side of the hot water test tube. Record your observations and describe your results.
6. Gently squeeze one full dropper of hot red water against the side of the cold water test tube. Record your observations and describe your results.

Analysis:

How does this activity demonstrate convection currents? Explain your answer.