Tie Dye Milk Experiment

Gather a few supplies from around the house for this Tie Dye Milk Experiment.

Tie Dye Milk Experiment

Supplies:

• Food Coloring
• Dish Soap
• Q-Tips
• Milk
• Pie Plate

 

Step 1:

Pour the milk into the pie plate.

Step 2:

Add drops of food coloring to the milk

Step 3:

Dip the Q-tip into the dish soap and place in the milk. Watch the food coloring move without being stirred creating a tie dye look!

We had a lot of fun using different patterns of food coloring drops to create different effects when the dish soap was added.

Curious about the science behind this tie dye milk experiment? Dish soap is a surfactant, so when it is added to the milk it breaks the surface tension, causing the food coloring to swirl! And just like the dish soap will break down the soap on your dirty dishes, it breaks down the fat in the milk. During this process, the food coloring molecules are bumped and pushed around the dish. We used 1% milk, but I’m curious if there is more movement in 2% or whole milk.

 

 

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