Skittle science! Follow FizzicsEd 150 Science Experiments: Comments 13 You will need: Three different coloured Skittles One sugar cube, or a teaspoon of sugar Clear water One flat, shallow white plate. A mess bucket and cleaning materials Copyright Instruction 1 Fill the shallow plate with water to around 0.5cm deep. 2 Arrange the Skittles in a triangle near the centre of the plate. 3 Allow the colours of the Skittles to spread through the water. The colours should form a cross in the middle of the plate. 4 Once a coloured cross is formed, place the sugar directly in the middle of the cross. You should see the colours start to move away from the sugar cube. Read below to find out why! 5 Go further – buy 4 x student activity sheets as extension worksheets. This student science booklet has been created by experienced science educators from the Fizzics Education team. Use these student worksheets as blackline masters for your science class! See all student sheets here 6 Get the Unit of Work on Mixtures here! How can we separate mixtures? What are the different techniques? From chromatography to magnetism, join us to explore the variety of ways we can separate mixtures! Includes cross-curricular teaching ideas, student quizzes, a sample marking rubric, scope & sequences & more 7 School science visits since 2004! – Curriculum-linked & award-winning incursions. – Over 40 primary & high school programs to choose from. – Designed by experienced educators. – Over 2 million students reached. – Face to face incursions & online programs available. – Early learning centre visits too! 8 Online courses for teachers & parents – Help students learn how science really works Why Does This Happen? This science experiment covers a fundamental part of chemistry – chemicals move from higher concentrations to lower concentrations. This is called a concentration gradient and can be found in everything from perfume vapours wafting through the room to cordial spreading out in water. When you first add the skittle they start to dissolve in the water, sending the food colours outwards as this happens. The reason that the food colours meet in the middle of the plate as a cross and do not mix is that each food colour has the same amount of sugar dissolved from each skittle. Once you add the pure sugar into the centre of the food colour cross, the sugar cube beings to dissolve as well. This creates a situation where the most amount of sugar is found in the centre of the plate whereas the least amount of sugar is found at the edge of the plate (this area is basically pure water). As the sugar dissolved it pushed outwards into the rest of the solution, sending the coloured water outwards as well. As a teacher, there are a number of opportunities to ask kids for their predictions and answers. They could try changing the variables to see if there is any different effect (eg, hot water vs cold water or different coloured skittles or different sugar types). They could try using M & Ms as well but the chocolate colour does get in way of the experiment. Classroom activity sheets for this experiment Create, reflect & extend! Also, try adding hot water to a ring of skittles around the edge of the plate! leads to… Recording from a Facebook Live presentation on Skittle Science Want to join the fun? Join our Facebook site and keep an eye out for the next live science event where you can work with our science presenters who run the experiments with you! Variables to test More on variables here Try this with M & Ms or other types of candy What happens if your eater had dissolved sugar in it already? Learn more! From colour changes to slimy science, we’ve got your kitchen chemistry covered! Get in touch with FizzicsEd to find out how we can work with your class. Chemistry Show Years 3 to 6 Maximum 60 students Science Show (NSW & VIC) 60 minutes Online Class Available Read More Enquire Now Magic Crystal Tree Science Kit $4.95 inc. GST View Details Add to Cart Trustpilot STEM Full Day Accelerator - Primary Designed from real classroom experiences, this modular day helps you create consistently effective science learning that directly address the new curriculum with easily accessible and cost-effective materials. Read More Enquire Now Be Amazing! How to teach science, the way primary kids love. $29.95 inc. GST View Details Add to Cart Trustpilot
Allow the colours of the Skittles to spread through the water. The colours should form a cross in the middle of the plate.
Once a coloured cross is formed, place the sugar directly in the middle of the cross. You should see the colours start to move away from the sugar cube. Read below to find out why!
Go further – buy 4 x student activity sheets as extension worksheets. This student science booklet has been created by experienced science educators from the Fizzics Education team. Use these student worksheets as blackline masters for your science class! See all student sheets here
Get the Unit of Work on Mixtures here! How can we separate mixtures? What are the different techniques? From chromatography to magnetism, join us to explore the variety of ways we can separate mixtures! Includes cross-curricular teaching ideas, student quizzes, a sample marking rubric, scope & sequences & more
School science visits since 2004! – Curriculum-linked & award-winning incursions. – Over 40 primary & high school programs to choose from. – Designed by experienced educators. – Over 2 million students reached. – Face to face incursions & online programs available. – Early learning centre visits too!
From colour changes to slimy science, we’ve got your kitchen chemistry covered! Get in touch with FizzicsEd to find out how we can work with your class.
Chemistry Show Years 3 to 6 Maximum 60 students Science Show (NSW & VIC) 60 minutes Online Class Available Read More Enquire Now
STEM Full Day Accelerator - Primary Designed from real classroom experiences, this modular day helps you create consistently effective science learning that directly address the new curriculum with easily accessible and cost-effective materials. Read More Enquire Now
Designed from real classroom experiences, this modular day helps you create consistently effective science learning that directly address the new curriculum with easily accessible and cost-effective materials.
Be Amazing! How to teach science, the way primary kids love. $29.95 inc. GST View Details Add to Cart Trustpilot
Hi Desiree! This experiment is all about concentration gradients. This is the idea that liquids and gases will move from high concentration towards low concentration. In this case, the skittles dissolved and the sugar and the food colour from the skittles went into the water. Once we added pure sugar in the middle of the plate, the dissolving sugar pushed outwards into the low sugar concentration at the edge of the plate… in doing so pushing the food colours from the sugar outwards. Concentration gradients are important in chemistry to understand how chemicals behave in reactions. When we did this with hot water the same effect occurred, however, it was much faster, which shows that reactions occur much more quickly when there is more heat energy available. Hope you have fun with the activity! Reply
I think there is something else happening here in this experiment that is needed to explain why the colours don’t mix and it is to do with dissolving. If you look carefully at the coloured mixtures being pushed from the sweets, it appears as though they are fine particles of colour sitting on the bottom. I.e. they have not dissolved. They are a fine suspension perhaps of coloured particles. Because they are is suspension they do move from high to low concentration but when they meet I wonder if they meet a physical barrier which impedes their movement i.e. a load of suspended particles. Reply
Thanks for your comment! In essence, this experiment shows that chemicals tend to move from where there is more to where there is less (also known as a concentration gradient). Glad you enjoyed the experiment! Reply
Hi Paige! This one is a physical change as it is about dissolving a solid into a liquid. In order for a chemical change to have occurred, you need to have a new molecule formed that wasn’t there before. Reply
Hi Kacey! At first, the skittles outer covering dissolves. This brings sugar and food colouring molecules towards the centre of the plate. When you add the extra sugar in the centre of the plate, you will have noticed that water in the plate rushes into the additional sugar as it dissolves. Reply
This website uses cookies to improve user experience. By using our website you consent to all cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy.
Thank you for looking to subscribing to our newsletter 🙂 Through this service you’ll be first to know about the newest free experiments, science news and special offers. PLUS: Get a free Kitchen Chemistry Booklet with >20 experiments, how to use variables plus a handy template!
Please fill out the details below and an email will be sent to you. Once you get that just click on the link to confirm your subscription and you're all done!