GOBLES, Mich. — Seeing a rainbow in the sky is always a stunning sight! But, have you ever tried to grow your own rainbow at home? In this week's weather kids experiment, Haleigh Vaughn creates a growing rainbow with Mrs. Tiller's 1st grade classroom at Gobles Elementary. This experiment was created by The Best Ideas for Kids.
You can find all of the materials you need at your local grocery store, or you may already have all of the materials needed at home! It's a simple experiment that is fun for all ages.
Here's what you need:
1) Paper towel (the more absorbent, the better)
2) Washable markers
3) Water
4) 2 small glasses or cups
Here are the steps:
1) Fold over a piece of paper towel "hot dog" style.
2) Trim the paper towel's length to 7.5 inches. (Any longer and the rainbow may not connect!)
3) Use the washable markers to draw rectangles on both ends of the paper towel. The color should only take up a few inches of space on the paper towel. There should be plenty of white space in between! You'll want to fill the ends with quite a bit of color! That way, the dye can travel up the paper towel.
4) Fill 2 small glasses or cups with water until they are 3/4 of the way full. There should be space on top for the paper towel!
5) Place each ends of the paper towel into the cups, color side up.
6) The washable marker dye will slowly make its way up the paper towel to meet in the center.
7) Leave the paper towel for a few minutes. The colors will eventually connect together.
Eventually, the rainbow will appear! This is fun for all ages because you can use different colors ... each rainbow creating its own unique style.
Are you curious how this happens? Here's the explanation from The Best Ideas For Kids:
"This science experiment is a great example of chromatography. Chromatography is a way of separating out a mixture of chemicals. If you ever got a paper with ink wet you would have seen the ink move across the page in streaks.
Capillary action makes the marker dye move up the paper towel. The water moves upward through the paper towel, lifting the washable dye molecules with it. Because the washable markers are water-based, they disperse in water."
You can find dozens of Weather Kids science experiments from the FOX 17 Weather Team via our website!