Mixing and making
Chemistry · Early Years · The School
Stirring things into water
Stir sugar into warm water. It disappears. We say it has DISSOLVED. Now stir sand into water. The sand just sits at the bottom. Try salt. Try flour. Try a little cooking oil. Say what you think each one will do. Then stir it and see.
Coming apart again
Leave the sandy water still. The sand settles to the bottom. Now you can pour the water off. The sugar water looks clear. But the sugar is still in there. Taste a drop and you will find it. Some mixtures come apart easily. Some do not.
Changes that stay
Some mixing makes something new. It will not come apart again. Mix flour and water and add heat. You get a cake. You cannot get the flour back out. Baking is chemistry. The kitchen is where most children meet it first.
Stir a spoon of sand into a cup of water. It goes cloudy. It looks permanent. Leave it for ten minutes. The sand settles at the bottom. Pour it through a coffee filter and the sand stays behind. Now stir a spoon of sugar into another cup. It disappears completely. No filter will get it back. But leave that cup on a warm windowsill for two days. The water goes and the sugar comes back. Two mixtures. Two different ways back.