Germs Begone
Instructions:
Supplies:
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Fill your cup/bowl/plate with water so that it is mostly full
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Add enough ground pepper to cover the entire water surface (the pepper represents germs)
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Dip a dry finger into the mix
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Look if the pepper sticks to your hand or not
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Now dip a soapy finger into the mix
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Look at what happens to any pepper on the surface
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Note whether pepper sticks to this finger or not
What's Happening?
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Pepper is hydrophobic ( it hates water and does not attract water) so it does not dissolve in the water and will float to the top of the water.
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Pepper floats on the water because water has surface tension (water sticks to other water drops) and the pepper is very light.
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Adding soap or detergent changes the water’s surface tension so that it pulls away from the soap (no pepper flakes on finger) and the pepper (germs) will sink
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Water
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Pepper
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Cup/Plate/Bowl (clear or white container would be best)
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Dish Soap/Detergent
Why do we care?
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WASH YOUR HANDS FOR 20 SECONDS, WITH SOAP (sing the alphabet)
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You can easily give your germs to other people by touching other surfaces and each other
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Germs contain bad things that can lead to diseases, headaches, stomaches so trying to avoid germs is good!