Walking Water!
Materials Required:
3 clear cups (Or more if you’d like!)
Water
Food coloring
Spoon or stick
Paper towels (At least 3)
Project Overview
Guess what time it is? Time to create “walking water,” sounds exciting? It sure is! Walking water is water that is soaked up and transferred to wherever the end of the paper or towel is placed. Don’t understand it yet, that’s alright, let’s get started! This project teaches gravity, surface tension, and the capillary effect. This project is for elementary school or for a younger audience.
If you prefer a video or would like to follow along, here’s the link: Walking Water Experiment | STEM Activity
Instructions:
Line up your clear cups and fill every OTHER glass with water (For example, if your first glass is full, don’t fill the next one. Then after that one that’s empty, fill another one)
Put a few drops of food coloring in each filled glass (You may choose whichever colors)
Use a spoon or stick to mix the food coloring in, wiping it every time you use it so you won’t transfer the colors
Fold each paper towel into a half-sheet
Fold it again lengthwise to form a “V” shape
If the paper towel is higher than the cups, rip a bit off.
Use the paper towel and place one end in the water filled cup with the other end in the empty cup
Come back in 15-20 minutes for a check-up
Let it sit overnight and come back the next day for results
Congratulations on making your Walking Water Experiment! You should have seen the empty cups suddenly full, that’s the capillary effect in action!
