Glitter All Around and Powerful Soap!
Learn how soap helps get rid of germs.
What You Need
Physical requirements
- Activity 1: Glitter all around requires access to a sink.
Activity 1: Glitter All Around
- A small amount of petroleum jelly
- A small package of glitter
- Soap (Dawn dish soap)
Activity 2: Powerful Soap
- A small package of glitter
- Soap (Dawn dish soap)
- Cotton swab
- A small bowl of water
Guide:
Safety Notes
Keep glitter away from your eyes, nose and mouth.
What To Do
Activity 1: Glitter All Around
- Put the petroleum jelly on the palm of one hand and spread it around a little.
- Sprinkle about half the glitter onto the palm of the hand with the petroleum jelly. The glitter is 'pretend germs'.
- Rub your hands together.
- Observe how the glitter spreads from one hand to the other hand.
- Wash your hands using warm (not hot) water and counting to 15 slowly while your hands are under the water. You can rub your hands together while doing this. Do not use soap.
- Do your hands still have glitter (pretend germs) on them?
- Now use the dish soap to wash your hands using warm water for 15 seconds.
- Is the glitter (pretend germs) gone now?
Activity 2: Powerful Soap
- Pour 1/2 the glitter into the bowl of water.
- Give the glitter a minute to settle.
- Dip one end of the cotton swab into the bowl.
- What do you observe?
- Remove the cotton swab from the bowl and dip one end in some soap.
- Dip the end of the cotton swab with the soap on it into the bowl.
- What do you observe?
Discovery
There are thousands of germs (microbes) around us all the time. Each speck of glitter represents a microbe. Microbes are spread very easily by touching, talking, sneezing and coughing. Just like the glitter, water doesn't remove most microbes, but soap does. Soap can surround the germs and damage them so they cannot make us sick.
When the glitter was added to the water, the glitter spread out in the bowl but stayed on top of the water. When the cotton swab was put in the bowl, nothing happened to the glitter; but when the cotton swab covered with soap was put in, the glitter moved away from the swab. Water molecules like to stay together and because of this, they create surface tension (which is why the glitter stayed on top of the water). Soap is a good cleaner because it breaks the surface tension of water. When the soap was added to the bowl, the water molecules and the glitter 'moved' away from the soap.
Some microbes are good and help us live a healthy life, but some microbes can make us sick. Properly washing your hands using soap is very important to stop the spread of microbes (germs) and to keep you healthy.
What's Happening?
There are thousands of germs (microbes) around us all the time. Each speck of glitter represents a microbe. Microbes are spread very easily by touching, talking, sneezing and coughing. Just like the glitter, water doesn't remove most microbes, but soap does. Soap can surround the germs and damage them so they cannot make us sick.
When the glitter was added to the water, the glitter spread out in the bowl but stayed on top of the water. When the cotton swab was put in the bowl, nothing happened to the glitter; but when the cotton swab covered with soap was put in, the glitter moved away from the swab. Water molecules like to stay together and because of this, they create surface tension (which is why the glitter stayed on top of the water). Soap is a good cleaner because it breaks the surface tension of water. When the soap was added to the bowl, the water molecules and the glitter 'moved' away from the soap.
Why does it matter?
Some microbes are good and help us live a healthy life, but some microbes can make us sick. Properly washing your hands using soap is very important to stop the spread of microbes (germs) and to keep you healthy.