The Colorful Carnations Experiment
The Colorful Carnations Experiment
This super simple science experiment will teach you a lot about how plants function and leave you with a beautiful and vibrantly colored flower. Hold on to your thinking caps, because we are about to learn the role of TRANSPIRATION and COHESION.
Materials for the experiment:
- A small bouquet of white carnations
- 3 vases or tall cups
- 3 colors of food coloring
- Pitcher of water
Experiment:
- Pour about a half cup of water into each vase. The amount doesn’t need to be exact; it just needs to submerge the carnation’s stem by several inches.
- Drop in food coloring to dye the water. Mix colors to make pink, turquoise, orange, or whatever you like! Just make sure that the color is bold and distinct, so that it will show up in the flower petals.
- Place a carnation in each vase and let it sit overnight.
- In the morning, check on your carnations. You won’t have white carnations anymore, but instead you will have a beautiful collection of colored carnations.
The science behind the experiment:
As promised, this experiment has given you beautiful colored flowers. Now its going to teach you about transpiration and cohesion.
The reason the carnations changed color is because the flower pulled the dyed water up through its stem and into the petals. Even though the flower has lost its roots, the stem will still suck up the water using transpiration. Simply put, transpiration is the evaporation of water through the flower’s leaves. By itself, transpiration does not explain how the colored water made it to the flower petals. So this is where cohesion comes into play. Cohesion is the tendency of water to be “sticky”. As the water molecules are pulled out of the flower leaf through evaporation, they drag up other water molecules into their place. Think of it like a train. When the engine moves (the water molecule being evaporated), all the other cars behind it are pulled forward in space. So there you have it! Not only do you have pretty flowers, but you kids can impress your friends with the technical explanation.
Hope you enjoyed the experiment!
