Candy Hearts Observation Lab
This Candy Hearts Observation Lab is my favorite. Fizzing, sinking, dancing, floating, and dissolving are all vocabulary words to be discussed during this lab investigation. This lab does take two days to complete, so keep that in mind when planning. The lab has a simple materials list and is easy to implement into your homeschool or classroom. Besides this lab, you need to try our other Valentine Candy Labs with free lab sheets. We also offer a large collection of Valentine Activities & Printables including our Valentine Activity Sheets.
Candy Hearts Observation Lab Materials List
The materials list includes: printed lab sheets, conversation heart candies, alcohol, clear soda, vinegar, water, and clear glasses. This lab will take two days to complete. There is one lab sheet devoted to the first day and one for the second. The data you collect on the first day will be contradicted by the results you discover on the second. So, be sure to at least observe and discuss the 2nd days findings even if you decide to forego the written lab sheet.
Candy Hearts Observation Lab Procedure
In each container, pour one of the different liquids: rubbing alcohol, water, clear soda (Sprite), and vinegar. Now, before dropping a candy heart into each one, have your students predict if the heart will float or sink by coloring in the sink or float heart on the lab sheet. Encourage your student to draw their hearts floating or sinking.
Do the soda drop first because after it sits for a little while, it starts to move around and dance. This is fun for your students to watch. Since the soda (Sprite or 7-Up) has packed carbon dioxide in it, the air bubbles attach themselves to the heart candy. When this happens the candy heart will float to the top. Once it gets to the top, the bubbles pop causing the candy to drop back down doing a dance. Even though the heart candy drops to the bottom at first, it doesn’t take too long for it to float (15 min).
During the experiment, write any observations that you notice. Do the liquids smell? Was there fizzing? Did the candy hearts sink or float?
WAIT 24 HOURS...
This is the fun part! The kids are always amazed to see what happened to the candy hearts. Do they look the same? Are they still sunk or floating? What an opportune time to discuss key vocabulary and the why behind the changes!
Candy Hearts Observation Lab Results & Conclusions
Some of the candies are now floating that weren’t before. The candies originally sunk because they were more dense then the liquid they were in. What happened to change this? Some of the candy hearts absorbed the fluid in a process called osmosis. These hearts appear larger or swollen. This caused the candy heart’s density to change. When an object is less dense than the liquid it is in, it will float. Density is the amount of mass in volume.
Another candy heart almost dissipated completely and all that was left was a heart shaped film. These hearts dissolved in the liquid they were in. In this case, the candy heart was the solute and the liquid it was in was the solvent. When the solute dissolved into the solvent, it created a solution. A solution is a homogeneous mixture comprised of two or more substances. Have fun discussing all of your observations. This is the best part of scientific investigation…
Try these other FREE resources!
