Hip Hopping Raisins
Raisins are dried grapes. Wouldn’t it be hilarious to make tiny raisins swing and dance to rap music?
What You Need
- Transparent glasses
- Raisins
- Clear soft drinks like Sprite
What To Do
- Take two clear glasses. Fill one with plain water and one with clear soda like Sprite. Grab some of those raisins and drop them into each glass. Plop! The raisins fall flat at the bottom. Now look closely at the glass filled with carbonated drink.
- What do you see? The raisins are slowly rising up and are now doing cha cha cha. They swoop up gracefully and dive down, and keep repeating this process. It is completely mesmerising. You are a good dance teacher who has taught those heavy raisins to lift up their spirits and dance gracefully.
Why do the Raisins Dance?
- The dented surfaces of the raisins are filled with little air pockets. They lure the carbon dioxide bubbles towards them, thus creating magical bubbles on the face of the raisins. These bubbles also increase the volume (surface area) of the raisins without raising the mass (weight) of the raisins much.
- So, they lower the density (tight compactness) of the raisins. Archimedes’ principle states that when an object has lesser density than a fluid, the object will rise up. The bubbles disappear once they meet air.
- Once the bubbles subside, the raisins sink down and again carbon dioxide causes bubbles to form. This simple scientific process generates a fascinating display.
- However, the raisins in the plain water will stubbornly sit at the bottom of the glass.
For more such science experiments and articles, visit Science for Kids.