Shelby Piatt

Speed of Molecules
CONCEPTS:
-

Heating a liquid increases the speed of molecules

An increased speed of molecules competes with the attraction between
molecules and causes molecules to move further apart.
Cooling a liquid decreases the speed of molecules.
A decrease in the speed of molecules allows the attraction between
molecules to bring them closer together.

OVERVIEW:
Students will add food coloring to both hot and cold water to see if heating or
cooling affects the speed of water molecules.

OBJECTIVE:
Students will be able to explain that heating and cooling affect molecular
motion.
MATERIALS:
-

Hot water
Cold water
Clear plastic cups
Food coloring

ENGAGE:
Ask students to help design an experiment to see if temperature is a factor in
the speed of water using hot and cold water.
Questions:
-

Is the speed of water molecules different in hot and cold water?

What kind of test can we do to find out?

Tell students a possible method is to use food coloring and hot and cold water to
test. If the water moves faster at one temperature, then the food coloring should
move faster too.
Questions:
-

Should we use the same amount of water for both hot and cold? Yes
Same type of cup? Yes
Same amount of food coloring? Yes
Test both temperatures at the same time? Yes

EXPLORE:

Do the experiment.
Question?
-

Is the speed of water molecules different in hot and cold water?

1 drop of food coloring, 2 different colors for each cup (ex. Green and red in hot and
cold)
water per cup (Cold and Hot)
Partners will both place drops in at the same time, one partner does hot one partner
does cold.
Allow the colors to mix on their own OBSERVE
RECORD AND DISCUSS OBSERVSTIONS
-

Describe what the color looked like and how the colors moved in cold water.
Describe what the colors looked like and how the colors moved in the hot
water.
What does the speed of mixing colors tell you about the speed of molecules
in the hot and cold water?

EXPECTED RESULTS:
Food coloring will spread faster in the hot waters. The colors will combine faster in
the hot water and stay separate in the cold water longer.
EXPLAIN:
Questions?
Does water move faster in cold or hot water?
How does this match your observation?
-

Heating a liquid increases molecular motion.

Cooling a substance decreases molecular motion.
As molecular motion increases, the space between molecules increases.
As molecular motion decreases, the space between molecules decrease.

EXTEND:
Explain why hot water takes up more space than room temperature water.

If you had 80 milliliters of water in a graduated cylinder and you heated it up

and notice the volume increases to 84 milliliters. Using what you have
learned during this experiment explain why the volume increased when
heated.

Speed of Water Molecule Worksheet

OBSERVATION:

Cold water:
Explain what the colors looked like and how they moved.

Hot water:
Explain what the colors looked like and how they moved.

What does the speed of mixing in the colors tell you about the speed of the
molecules?

EXPLAIN:
What does your observation mean?
Cold water moves _______________________ than hot water.

Hot water moves ________________________ than cold water.

EXTENDED:
If you had 80 milliliters of water in a graduated cylinder and you heated it up and
notice the volume increases to 84 milliliters. Using what you have learned during
this experiment explain why the volume increased when heated.