Mad Science
Fun activities that involve exploring and learning experiments
A Scientific Patriotic Cocktail
Learn how sugar can affect the mass and density of liquids. Then enjoy a patriotic cocktail.
You will need the following items:
•
Clear tall drinking glass or jar
•
Cranberry juice cocktail (with approximately
30 grams of sugar per 8 oz. serving)
•
SoBe Piña Colada (25 grams of sugar per 8
oz. serving)
•
Sugar-free blue sports drink (0 grams of sugar
per 8 oz. serving)
•
Ice cubes
•
Measuring cup with a spout
The Experiment and/or Demonstration
Tip: Practice a couple of times before demonstrating or doing the experiment.
1. Pour some cranberry juice into the glass until it is about 1/3 full.
2. Fill the glass with ice cubes (not crushed ice). This will help keep the colors separated as you
pour in the other two liquids.
3. Slowly pour the SoBe Piña Colada over the ice until the glass is about 2/3 full. When pouring,
pour slowly and right over an ice cube close to the side of the glass. Use a measuring cup
with a spout instead of pouring directly from the bottle.
4. Slowly top off the glass with the blue sugar-free sports drink, again using the measuring cup.
What did we observe?
The red cranberry juice stayed on the bottom of the glass. The clear liquid layered in the middle, and
the blue liquid was on top.
Why did this happen? What did we learn?
The principle here is that liquids with lower sugar contents will layer on top of those with higher sugar
contents. Sugar molecules are made up of lots of atoms stuck together. The more sugar in a liquid,
the more atoms it contains, and the denser (or heavier) it will be. In this case, the cranberry juice has
more sugar than the SoBe Piña Colada, which has more sugar than the sports drink.
Density is basically how much "stuff" (or mass) is stuffed into a particular volume. Remember the allimportant science equation "density = mass divided by volume"? Based on this equation, if the mass
of something increases but the volume stays the same, the density has to go up. Likewise, if the
mass decreases but the volume stays the same, the density has to go down.
ActivityConnection.com - Mad Science - July 2013 - Page 1 of 2
In this experiment, we used approximately the same volume (1/3 glass)
of three different liquids. But because the liquids had different masses,
they had different densities. The liquid with the highest density stayed
on the bottom of the glass.
What else can we learn?
If a liquid has a higher mass, does that mean it weighs more? Yes, as
long as you stay on Earth. The same amount of two different liquids will
have different weights because they have different masses. Liquids that
weigh more (have a higher mass) will sink below the liquids that weigh
less (have a lower mass).
Would you guess that water weighs more or less than rubbing alcohol?
What about vegetable oil or pancake syrup?
Weigh in on the experiment.
If you have a very accurate food scale, weigh equal amounts of the
three liquids used in the experiment to see if the cranberry juice is the
heaviest and the sports drink is the lightest.
What if...
What happens if you stir up the red, white, and blue layers? (They won't separate back out because
the sugar will disperse [spread] equally through the mixture.)
Drink the experiment.
Drink the cocktail. How does it taste?
Try some related experiments.
•
Try the experiment again, but this time, use other colored drinks.
•
If alcoholic drinks are served at your community, try Shot Tectonics – The Science of Layered
Shooters.
•
Make a Seven-Layer Density Column.
ActivityConnection.com - Mad Science - July 2013 - Page 2 of 2