This week we learned about solutions, that is liquid mixtures. In particular we wanted to know whether water temperature affects how well something dissolves. First the kids compared the time it takes to dissolve a couple drops of food coloring in different water temperatures. Then they tried to see how much sugar they could stir into solution, once again comparing different water temperatures. They concluded that hot water is much more effective at dissolving solutes (that's fancy-talk for stuff).We also noted that the final volume of the sugar solution was surprisingly LESS than the sum of the initial water volume plus the sugar. Part of what happens when you dissolve something is that it breaks up into tinier pieces and more spaces open up within the molecules themselves.
