Milk Mixer

What happens when you add a few drops of food coloring to water? What about milk? What happens when you put some soap on the end of a toothpick and gently touch the surface of the milk containing the drops of food coloring? Let's just say, it gets pretty psychedelic.

It's the chemical reaction between the fat in the milk and the soap that causes everything to swirl around, so we decided to compare the effects of using heavy cream, 3%, and 1% milk.

As if we didn't already have our hands full tie-dying milk, we took some non-soapy cream, shook it up inside a glass jar, and made some creamy delicious butter.

Our conclusion: Milk fats are yummy and fun!

Un-mixing Milk

This week we tried 2 different ways to "un-mix" milk. The first way involved brute strength! We poured some heavy cream into a jar, and we shook it and shook it until it separated into a clear liquid and a creamy solid, better known as butter.  The second way we extracted solids from the milk was through a few chemical reactions. First we added some vinegar to the milk to curdle it. Then we separated the solid proteins using filter paper, and neutralized any extra vinegar with baking soda.  Finally we added a little water, resulting in our own home-made glue.