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Mixing Oil & Water Science Experiment

Have you ever heard the saying, “Oil and water don’t mix”? For this easy science experiment, we observe exactly what does happens when we mix oil and water, then we’ll add another item to the mix to see how it changes!

With only a few common kitchen items, kids can explore density and the reaction of adding an emulsifier (dish soap) to the experiment. A printable instruction sheet with a materials list, demonstration video, and a simple scientific explanation are included.

JUMP TO SECTION: Instructions | Video Tutorial | How it Works

Supplies Needed

Glass Jar with a lid (a pint canning jar works great)
1 cup Water
Food Coloring
1 cup Oil (we used vegetable oil)
2 teaspoons Dish Soap

Mixing Oil & Water Science Lab Kit – Only $5

Use our easy Mixing Oil & Water Science Lab Kit to grab your students’ attention without the stress of planning!

It’s everything you need to make science easy for teachers and fun for students — using inexpensive materials you probably already have in your storage closet!

Mixing Oil & Water Science Experiment Instructions

Step 1 – Start by filling the jar with 1 cup of water.

Step 2 – Add a few drops of food coloring to the water and stir until combined. Make some observations about the water. What happened when the food coloring was added? Was it easy to mix the food coloring into the water? Does the food coloring stay mixed with the water? What do you think will happen when we pour the oil into the jar? Write down your hypothesis (prediction) and then follow the steps below.

Step 3 – Next pour 1 cup of oil into the jar. Make a few observations. Does the oil behave the same was as the food coloring did when you added it to the water?

Step 4 – Securely tighten the lid on the jar and shake it for 15-20 seconds.

Step 5 – Set the jar down and watch the jar for a couple of minutes. Observe what happens to the oil and the water and write down your findings. Did the oil and water stay mixed together? Was your hypothesis correct? Do you think there is anything else that can be added to the jar to prevent the oil and water from separating?

Step 6 – Next, take the lid off the jar and squirt in 1-2 teaspoons of dish soap.

Step 7 – Tighten the lid back on the jar and shake again for another 15-20 seconds.

Step 8 – Set the jar down and watch the liquid for a minute or two. Observe what happens to the oil and the water now that the dish soap has been added to the mix. Write down your findings. Did the oil and water stay mixed together this time? Do you know why adding the dish soap preventing the oil and water from separating? Find out the answer in the how does this experiment work section below.

Video Tutorial

How Does the Science Experiment Work

The first thing you will observe is that oil and water will not stay mixed together, no matter how hard you shake the jar. Instead, the oil slowly rises to the top of the water. This is because of the density of the two liquids. Density is a measure of the mass per unit volume of a substance. Water has a density of 1 g/mL (g/cm3). Objects will float in water if their density is less than 1 g/mL. Objects will sink in water if their density is greater than 1 g/mL. The oil is LESS dense than the water. This is because the molecules of oil are larger than the molecules of water, so oil particles take up more space per unit area. As a result, the oil will rise to the top of the water.

The second thing you will observe is that adding dish soap to the mixture changed the results of the experiment. When oil, water and dish soap are mixed together, the oil and water don’t separate like they did when they were the only two items in the jar. This is because of the chemistry of the oil, water and soap molecules.

Oil (and other fats) are made of nonpolar molecules, meaning they cannot dissolve in water. Water is made of polar molecules that can dissolve other polar molecules. Soap is made of molecules that have a hydrophilic (“water-loving”) end and a hydrophobic (“water-fearing”) end. Without soap, water and oil cannot interact because they are unlike molecules. When you add soap to the mixture, the hydrophobic end of the soap molecule breaks up the nonpolar oil molecules, and the hydrophilic end of the soap molecule links up with the polar water molecules. Now that the soap is connecting the fat and water, the non-polar fat molecules can be carried by the polar water molecules. Now the oil and water can be mixed together and stay mixed together!

I hope you enjoyed the experiment. Here are some printable instructions:

Mixing Oil & Water Science Experiment

Glass Jar with a lid (a pint canning jar works great)

Instructions

Start by filling the jar with 1 cup of water.
Add a few drops of food coloring to the water and stir until combined.
Pour 1 cup of Oil into the jar.
Securely tighten the lid on the jar and shake it for 15-20 seconds.
Set the jar down and watch the liquid for a minute or two. Observe what happens to the Oil and the Water.
Next, take the lid off the jar and squirt in 1-2 teaspoons of dish soap.
Tighten the lid back on the jar and shake again for another 15-20 seconds.
Set the jar down and watch the liquid for a minute or two. Observe what happens to the Oil and the Water now that the dish soap has been added to the mix.

Reader Interactions

October 4, 2017 at 11:43 am

Super ….. !

October 6, 2017 at 12:12 pm

Hi ! This gives us really good experiment

November 6, 2017 at 3:40 pm

This was the best science fair project ever

November 14, 2017 at 5:10 pm

December 10, 2017 at 10:38 am

This experiment is fun

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Oil & Water Experiment

Food coloring
A pie pan ( or similar)
Begin by filling a shallow dish with oil . We used baby oil here, but other oils will also work. Set this aside.
In a cup combine 3-5 drops of food coloring with water and mix, using one cup for each color of water that you wish to make.

Give kids pipettes and have them squirt the varying colors of water into the pan of oil.

What happens? The water and oil do not mix. Instead, amazing effects are produced!

Oil is less dense than water. Given the variance in densities the two liquids cannot mix.
Oil and water also do not mix because water molecules are more attracted to each other than to oil molecules.
Read more about why oil & water do not mix .
Read more about the oil & water science experiment .

FUN KID PROJECT: MAKE CHALK ROCKETS! These are so flipping cool! (Art & science for Kids)

Growing a Jeweled Rose is a site packed with fun and educational activities for kids. Read more about us or catch up with our favorite posts .

More About the Author

Crystal Underwood is the writer and creator of Growing A Jeweled Rose. She has worked extensively with children and strongly believes in the importance of play at the core of early learning. She is passionate about the early years and believes that childhood should be a truly magical time in life. For all the best kids activities connect with Growing a Jeweled Rose below!

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Gift of Curiosity

Sparking children's creativity and learning

Apple rotting experiment {apple science}

Preschool , Kindergarten , 1st Grade , 2nd Grade , 3rd Grade , 4th Grade , 5th Grade

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If you read my blog regularly, you know that I love doing science activities with my kids. I truly believe that all kids are scientists at heart, since kids show such tremendous curiosity and desire to understand the world around them.

Well, given my love for science I was excited to try this apple rotting experiment with them so they could observe what would happen to an apple under various conditions.

Be sure to read to the bottom to see the printable observation worksheets you can use as a tool for your students to record what they notice both before and after the experiment. Using the recording worksheets along with this activity adds a higher level of critical thinking and scientific observation that supports students’ developing scientific skills.

Note: This activity and many others are included in my Apple Unit Study .

For this experiment, I sliced and cored an apple into four quarters. I then placed one quarter into each of four glasses.

One glass was empty (except for air, of course).

One glass was filled with water.

One glass was filled with vinegar.

And one glass was filled with oil.

After three days, this is what the apples looked like. As you can see, the apple in the air glass had started to shrivel. The apples in the other three glasses looked relatively unchanged, although the glass filled with vinegar had taken on a pinkish tint.

At the end of a week, there were additional changes. Notably, the water and vinegar levels in the glasses had gone way down, exposing more of the apple to air. The oil, on the other had, had not evaporated like the other liquids.

We took the four slices of apple out of the glasses in order to examine them more closely. The apple in air was obviously the most shriveled, and had gotten somewhat hard. The other apples had all darkened in color.

I’ll admit to being a bit surprised by the results for the apple that had been left in air. I had expected it to start molding, but instead it just got dry and shriveled up.

Did any of these results surprise you? How would you modify this experiment to try with your kids?

Update: I’ve created an Apple Rotting Experiment printable to go along with this activity. The Apple Rotting Experiment document includes directions for the teacher as well as two different versions of student worksheets (based on students’ levels) to record pre- and post-observations of the apple rotting experiment.

Using the recording worksheets along with this activity supports young students (kindergarten through grade 2) to develop a higher level of critical thinking and scientific observation skills.

Want a copy of my Apple Rotting Experiment?

Get it as part of the Apple Unit Study :

Apple Unit Study

Or get it by clicking the button below:

Apple Rotting Experiment

More apple resources.

More apple posts from Gift of Curiosity:

Apple Printables Pack
Apple Do-a-Dot Printables
Apple taste testing
Dissecting an apple
Apple sensory bin
Apple Montessori activities

For more kid-friendly apple activities and apple printables, see my Apple Unit Study page and my Apples Pinterest board.

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Reader interactions, 11 comments.

September 4, 2014 at 11:35 am

I like these simple science activities you can do with every day household items. My kiddos are old enough to take it one step further and research why each liquid and the air had a different effect on the apple.

September 4, 2014 at 12:51 pm

Yes, my kids were too young to really understand WHY each liquid had a different effect, but as kids get older this is an activity you can easily expand on to have them explore that question. 🙂

August 13, 2023 at 4:56 pm

Great idea and easy setup. Two thumbs up 👍👍.

September 4, 2014 at 6:13 pm

This is a great experiment! Thanks for linking up at the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop! I’ll be featuring this post on Monday! We hope you stop by and link up again next week!

September 5, 2014 at 5:15 pm

Oh, how interesting!! Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!

September 6, 2014 at 9:17 pm

Hmmm….. I might have tried a soda to see how it reacts to the apple. If you wanted to add in powders, I’ve seen some really interesting attempts at mummification using salt or baking soda.

Thanks for linking up to Science Sunday!

September 7, 2014 at 9:01 am

Interesting ideas! We never have soda in the house, but I agree it would have been interesting to try and I could buy a can of soda just for the experiment. And I love the idea of trying to mummify an apple!

September 30, 2014 at 10:34 pm

Hi I found you through Pintrest and love this idea. We are currently doing the letter A with My Father’s World and will be doing this experiment. I will add orange juice, a white soda (like Sprite), and a dark soda (like Coke). Thanks for this, my kids are going to love it!

October 1, 2014 at 7:50 am

Adding soda is a great idea! I’d love to know what happens! And orange juice is so acidic, that will be interesting as well.

September 6, 2017 at 7:48 am

this is a good experiment i might do it for my science fair project!

September 1, 2021 at 1:59 pm

Thanks for sharing this great science experiment! Totally loving it.

Oil and Water Science Experiment for Kids

By: Author ABC's of Literacy

Posted on Last updated: October 31, 2024

Are you looking for a simple science activity to do in your classroom or at home? This Oil and Water Science Experiment for Kids is a fun, easy way to explore what happens when oil and water are put together in a cup.

Oil and Water Science Experiment for Kids:

Through experiments, your kids can visually see and learn many important science concepts. These hands-on activities can help them develop skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, and decision making too. Your children can also practice asking questions, observing, recording data, analyzing the results, drawing conclusions, and much more. These skills will help your kids in all areas of learning!

Getting Ready To Do The Oil And Water Science Experiment:

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure here .

What’s Needed:

Baby Oil or Vegetable Oil
Food Coloring or Washable Liquid Watercolors
Dropper or Pipette

This science activity is very easy to set-up. You only need a few supplies that you probably already have in your classroom or around the house. If you are doing this science activity with a group of children, gather enough supplies so your kids can work in pairs or small groups.

Just like with any other activity, this science experiment should be supervised by an adult especially if you are using baby oil and washable liquid watercolors.

How To Do The Oil And Water Science Experiment:

To begin this science experiment, fill the small cups with water. Next, add 2 to 3 drops of food coloring to each cup. Then, stir the water and food coloring together with spoon.

After combining the water and food coloring together, fill a cup with baby oil.

Next, fill the dropper with the colored water. Then, slowly drop the colored water into the cup of oil. Watch what happens!

As you add different colors, they will mix and blend together at the bottom of the cup. It is so much fun and different every time so your kids will love to try it over and over!

The Science Behind The Experiment:

After conducting this science experiment, your kids may be wondering why oil and water don’t mix together. The answer is simple. Oil molecules are only attracted to other oil molecules. Just like the oil molecules, water molecules are only attracted to other water molecules. So, they don’t mix together. The reason the oil floats on top is because the oil is less dense than water.

This Oil and Water Science Experiment for Kids is a simple activity to teach your children about density. Hope your young scientists have fun with this hands-on learning activity!