The Disappearing Beaker

Autopause

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Materials

2 Plastic Cups

1 Tiny Glass Beaker

1 Large Bottle of Soybean Oil

1 Glass Test Tube

1 Pipette

1 Jar of Ghost Crystals

Instructions

STEP 1

0:00

Reach into your kit & pull out the bag that says Experiment 10. Place everything around the white mat and put the bag back in your box.

STEP 2

0:28

Place one plastic cup on the mat and put the tiny glass beaker inside. Place the other plastic cup to the side with the glass test tube inside so it doesn’t break.

STEP 3

1:08

Next, grab the big bottle of soybean oil and pour it into the glass beaker filling it all the way. Continue pouring to overflow the oil until the glass beaker completely disappears.

STEP 4

2:05

Take the glass test tube and place it inside the cup. Using the pipette suck up some of the oil and squeeze it into the test tube. Continue doing this until the glass test tube completely disappears.

STEP 5

4:13

Next, fill the empty plastic cup halfway with water. Open the container of ghost crystals and dump them into the cup of water.

STEP 6

4:54

Reach into the cup and pull out the invisible ghost crystals. they only appear when taken out of the water. Place them back into the water to see them disappear again.

STEP 7

6:17

Next, try to see what happens when you add a few ghost crystals to the cup of oil.

How It Works

In this experiment, we explored how light bounces off of an object. Normally light can bounce off an object like a beaker and then it enters our eye, allowing us to see it. However, when we put the beaker into oil, light moves from the oil to the glass without reflecting into our eyes, so we can’t see it.

This happens with glass and oil because of their properties, it doesn't happen with most things.

The same thing can happen with ghost crystals, since they are made of 99% water and we put them into 100% water, light can pass from water into the crystals without reflecting into our eyes, which is why we can't see them.

The Disappearing Beaker

Materials

Instructions

How It Works

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Experiment

The Disappearing Beaker

Materials

Instructions

How It Works

Back to AllExperiments in The Kit

Watch NextExperiment

Back to All
Experiments in The Kit

Watch Next
Experiment