Science fun: Layered Liquids

We went to Darla & Sam's house while Ryne was in speech class to do some science experiments.  She did layered liquids and quick sand. 

You can find the experiments here: Layered Liquids 

The first experiment we tried to mix water & oil.  They put food coloring in the water so you could easily tell the two liquids apart.

They layered 5 liquids in experiment number two.  They layered honey, dish soap, water, alcohol and oil.  After they were layered, added some honey to see if it would sink to the bottom.  It was neat watching it go down and pull the soap with it a little.  Adding more water was the neatest.  It hit the honey layer and bounced back up beneath the oil.  When all items were stirred, everything except the oil mixed.



The word “miscibility” describes how well two substances mix. Oil and water are said to be “immiscible,” because they do not mix. The oil layer is on top of the water because of the difference in density of the two liquids. The density of a substance is the ratio of its mass (weight) to its volume. The oil is less dense than the water and so is on top.



As soon as Ashley got there, she put her Pooh puzzle together.

Second experiment:  Put 1/4 cup honey in glass

Add 1/4 cup dish soap

Add 1/4 cup red colored water

Add 1/4 cup (green) wintergreen smelling alcohol...who knew that existed. 

then add 1/4 cup oil

Look at all the layers. 
You can see the honey layer, soap layer, the alcohol and water mixed layer, and the oil layer on the top

Close up of all the layers.

Peyton's drawing of what he saw.

Add some water to see if it mixes.  That looked pretty neat. ;)

This is copied from the website link:


Why do the liquids stay separated?


Can you think of several ways that the liquids in the glass are different? Try to describe some properties that differ in each of the liquids in the glass.


One property that is different in all of the liquids is color. Another property unique to each liquid is thickness (viscosity).


The property of the liquids that is responsible for the layering effect is density. Can you guess what the relationship is between the density of a liquid and its position in the glass?


Another property that keeps the liquids separate is that some of them are immiscible liquids, in other words they do not mix with each other. As you proved in the first experiment, oil and water are immiscible liquids. On the other hand, water and rubbing alcohol are miscible and will mix with each other. Water and the dishwashing liquid will also mix.

Stir up the liquids in the glass and watch what happens to the layers. Have any of the layers mixed (are they miscible in each other)? Wait a few minutes and look again. Have any of the other liquids separated?