Pepper and Soap - Experiment

🎂 4 + years ⏱️ 14 min 📍 Home ⭐ very easy

Bacteria are tiny living creatures that we can't see. Some of them are helpful, but others can make us sick. That's why it's important to wash our hands often to clean them of bacteria. But how does that work exactly? You can find out with a simple experiment! You will need a bowl of water, a little pepper, and dish soap. First, fill the bowl with water and sprinkle a bit of pepper on top. The pepper represents the bacteria on your hands. Have fun trying out the experiment!

What you'll need

Plate or bowl
Ground pepper
Dish soap or soap

How it works

First, take a plate or a bowl of water and sprinkle a little pepper on it. Now comes the best part: Put some dish soap on your finger and slowly dip it into the water. What happens?
The pepper suddenly moves to the side and spreads out along the edge of the bowl! Cool, right? This happens because the dish soap changes the surface tension of the water and pushes the pepper away.
And that's exactly what happens when you wash your hands with soap: The soap removes bacteria and viruses from your hands. So don't forget to wash your hands regularly and thoroughly with soap to protect yourself and others from illness.