Pinching Water (Audrey Benson)
Principles Illustrated
Water Polarity
Standards
MS-PS1-1 Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures.
HS-PS1-3 Plan and conduct an investigation to gather evidence to compare the structure of substances at the bulk scale to infer the strength of electrical forces between particles.
CCC2 Cause and effect.
ESP1 Asking questions and defining problems.
Questioning Script
Prior knowledge & experience:
What will happen when I remove the tape from the can?
Root question:
What happened when the teacher pinched the water?
How can you explain this?
What happened when the teacher unpinched the water?
How can you explain this?
Target response:
The two streams of water get "stuck" together because of the positively and negatively charged parts of the water molecules are attracted to each other. The two streams of water separate when they are flicked because the attraction between the molecules is not strong enough to keep them together.
Common Misconceptions:
Water cannot be controlled. Fluids have very weak bonds between the molecules.