1
Try out the tools of the trade!
Your Graduated Gear Kit Includes
Fun Fact:
You Will Need
Pipette Parts
Do you like a lowviscosity or highviscosity milkshake?
The difference is in the
amount of ice cream
and milk that you
mix together!
Bulb
Shaft
1 Pipette
Directions
1 Cup of Water
Tip
Milk
1 Graduated Cylinder
Step 1: Squeeze the pipette bulb and dip
the tip into the water.
Step 1a
Step 2: Release the bulb gently without
letting the pipette go. Water will
move up into the shaft.
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 1b
Step 3: Remove the pipette from the water.
Step 4: Squeeze the bulb and the water will
come out!
The Science Behind Your Pipette
Your pipette acts like a mini pump with the help of your fingers! Squeezing the pipette bulb pumps air out. Letting go draws air back
inside. Water will draw up inside the pipette if you squeeze and release it underwater. If you squeeze the bulb again, water will pump out.
How to Clean Your Pipette
Fun Fact:
You Will Need
Pipettes and graduated cylinders are lab
tools found in medical laboratories. More
than 10 billion laboratory tests—that's
10,000,000,000—are performed in the
United States each year!
1 Pipette
Directions
1 Cup of Water
Step 1: Draw soapy water into the
pipette.
Step 2: Turn the pipette upside-down.
Cover the tip with your finger.
Shake the pipette to clean the
bulb.
Step 3: Squeeze out the soapy water.
Step 4: Keep repeating Steps 1-4 with
tap water until all of the soap
has been rinsed out.
Step 1
1 Cup of Soapy Water
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
te
2p
Try This at Home
Density Determination!
Perfect your pipetting technique and fill up on science with your cylinder!
You Will Need
maple
syrup
1 Cup of Water
1 Pencil
1 Graduated Gear Kit
1 Cup of Table Syrup
1 Roll of Paper Towels
1 Cup of Soapy Water
1 Cup of Vegetable Oil
Directions
Step 1: Use your pipette to draw up water and empty it into your cylinder. Do this four more times.
Step 2: Use your pipette to draw up vegetable oil and empty it into your cylinder. Do this four more times.
Step 3: Clean your pipette.
Step 4: Use your pipette to draw up table syrup and empty it into your cylinder. Do this four more times.
Step 5: Clean your pipette. Are there liquids that are easier or harder to draw up into the pipette? Record
your results on the Density Chart below.
Step 6: Let your cylinder sit for 15 minutes. Draw what happens on your Density Chart.
Density Chart
Draw what you
see in your cylinder!
Liquid
Liquid Color
Pipette the Liquid (easy) or (hard)
Water
Vegetable Oil
Table Syrup
What’s Going On?
This experiment shows you two properties, or characteristics of liquids! The way a liquid flows is a property called viscosity. Table
syrup has a high viscosity and does not flow easily. A liquid with a high viscosity is hard to draw up into your pipette. Vegetable oil has
a low viscosity and flows very easily. A liquid with a low viscosity is easy to draw up into your pipette.
The second property is density. Density describes how closely an object's molecules sit
together. Molecules are tiny building blocks that form the object you see. The closer the
03
5+
molecules are, the denser the object is. Less dense objects will float on top of denser ones.
When you let your cylinder sit for 15 minutes, the three liquids separate into layers. The least
dense liquid floats on top, and the densest liquid sinks to the bottom.
Item # BP0031. © 2012 The Mad Science Group. All rights reserved.