Young Antarctic scientists program

As part of Year 4 Science Studies the classes have been working with the Young Antarctic Scientist Program.

This program consists of five scientists from around the world, who have just returned from Antarctica. The team will visit the College five times this year.

On Wednesday the team came to Dominic College for their second visit to conduct whole class experiments using different liquids to illustrate density.

Using various recognisable liquids such as oil, water, washing up liquid and honey, Year 4 students were able to predict and experiment with the density of these liquids and their relationships with each other.

In smaller groups the students used food colouring to observe its effect on water.

Another activity engaged the students in experimenting with salt and temperature to gain further insight into liquid density and its effect within the ocean.

Here are some student comments regarding these experiments:

"It was a great experiment because it explained a lot about water density and it was fun in the way they used different colours to show us how liquid can be different and how it would be in the Antarctic waters."

"We learnt that warm water rises above cold water and warm salty water is denser than cold fresh water."

"I never knew cold water is heavier than hot water!"

"We experimented with different liquids. Some mixed and some did not"

"We were able to observe how the liquids layered depending on their density as some liquids were denser than others."