Question

Choose 6 liquids to layer. Hypothesize what you expect their densities to be. What liquids did you use, and rank their density with #1 being the most dense and #6 being the least dense. Were any of the results surprising?

Answer 1

Let's pick six liquids randomly, i.e. honey, corn syrup, whole milk, water, vegetable oil, rubbing alcohol, and put them in a beaker. The higher density liquid will take the bottom position whereas lower density liquids will be on above of high density liquids.

We know that honey has density (g/cm3) of 1.42, dish soap has 1.06, corn syrup has 1.33, milk has 1.03, water has 1.00 (standard), and vegetable oil and 0.92. Therefore, honey will be at the bottom most position (rank #1). Above which would be corn syrup (rank #2), dish soap (rank #3), milk (rank #4), water (rank #5) and vegetable oil (rank #6).

The results might be surprising for some students who think that water has highest density.