Milk is a solution made up of many components such as water, fat molecules, proteins, minerals, carbohydrates and things called enzymes. It comes in many shapes and forms (full cream milk, fat reduced etc).

This experiment used full cream milk and investigated how fats are affected by adding a detergent to the milk.

A fat molecule is made up to two main parts:

(1) A water loving head (called the hydrophilic region)

(2) A water fearing tail (called the hydrophobic region)

Dishwashing liquids also have a similar structure. ie they have a region that is hydrophilic (and therefore joins up with water) and a region that is hydrophobic (and therefore joins up with oil).

It is this reason why detergents can clean dishes because the detergent molecules join onto both oil and water and here is the secret to our experiment!

When you add the food colouring to the milk, it allows us to see the movement of the fat molecules and water in the milk. As the detergent is added, the detergent molecules try to join up with fat molecules.

If you would like

– more details,

– pictures of the second half of the experiment

– information on how to investigate this further

– links to everyday examples

– management hints & teaching pointers (5P Teacher develpoment program)

 ….. then why not subscribe to one of the following

(1) Crazy science Club

(2) 5P Teacher Training course called ‘Looney Lab  Classroom Creations‘

Or you can purchase the ‘Bright Sparkes Guide’ of this demonstration only ($2.50) which has:

• HD pictures of experiment steps
• Detailed explanation of science
• Mini-challenge section (another experiment)
• Making it a ‘Scientific Method’ experience
• Graphing opportunities
• REAL links and descriptions to everyday examples of concept.