If you received too much chocolate for Christmas, and you have a few spare M&M’s that you’d rather experiment with than eat, or maybe you didn’t get enough chocolate and you need an excuse to buy an entire pack of M&M’s (we’re only going to use a few!), this is the experiment for you.
What you need:
- M&M’s
- bowl
- water
What to do:
- Put a few M&M’s in the bowl, with the “M” facing upwards.
- Pour water into the bowl, covering the M&M’s.
- Wait, and watch the “M” closely.
- After five or 10 minutes, you should see the “M” lift up and float away. You’ll also see the colours leave the chocolate and mix with the water.
What happens:
As the m&m’s sit in the water, the coloured dyes start to dissolve. These colours are water soluble. After that, you should be able to see an almost transparent film, with the “M”. After enough colour dissolves, this part will float away. The “M” is insoluble, and will stay together, though sometimes bits do break off.
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