The Milk Trick


(YouTube link)

This neat little parlor trick using milk, food coloring, and dishwashing liquid will be perfect for my daughter’s birthday party. It’s probably a classic, but I’ve never seen it before. Don’t drink the results! -via Grow-A-Brain

How long will that hold a modern child's attention? I bet it would go over bigger with the "experimental" college crowd. Well, at least it would have back when I was in that crowd!
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> Put the soap on the tip of your finger then dip it in
> the milk.

Even better... Take one of those striped drinking straws, put the soap all around the end, and dip it in the milk. The white and colored plastic parts have different properties, so you get a star-shaped explosion effect.
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@Slapster - I dunno, I babysit a couple of kids who are 5 and 10, and "modern children" or not, they're still mighty impressed with much the same things I was impressed with when -I- was a kid - paper airplanes, Legos, cool little science tricks and what have you ... I think they'd both be quite impressed with this, too - the classics never fail!
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i think it's TOTALLY appropriate for a children's bday party AND i predict that they will LOVE it. don't underestimate kids intelligence by thinking they'll drink it. likewise, don't overestimate the simple things that children will enjoy.
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i imagine that whole milk would be best. as the effect is from the fats interacting with the soap. hydrophobic and hydrophilic interactions of some sort?
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You're right su.wei, the dishwater liquid has molecules with an hydrophilic side and a lipophilic side (with anionic thing too, to allow the water to spread out else it would be in drops shape).

So the fat is stuck to the lipophilic side and the water to the hydrophilic side (that's why it cleans your dishes else water and fat don't mix together).

So, fatter the milk is (which is basically a mix between saturated fat, water, sugar - lactose - and casein - a protein -. the K-casein allows the mixing to be stable as an emulsion) and more reactive the mixing would be.

(forgive my english language)
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I did this with my 8 and 10 year old boys after I watched the video. It worked and they thought it was the coolest thing ever! I scored some mega Mommy cool points with this! They want to show everyone at school.
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OK, we tried this at the birthday party tonight. I used half and half, which is 5% fat. It worked perfectly! The colors roiled for a long time til they were perfectly blended, and continued to roil after it was hard to see it. The kids loved it! Princess even made me do it a second time so she could record video with her new camera. It's a bit too long and giggly to post, but she is going to send it to her science teacher.
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