Scared Pepper!

Use this amazing experiment and surface tension as an easy distraction when breaking into places, or a diversion when getting out!

Pour water into the bowl.

Add pepper flakes to the bowl and make sure you don’t cover the entire surface!

Dip the toothpick in the soap. Try to get as much soap on the toothpick tip as you can.

Touch the side of the toothpick (with soap on it) into the center of your water and observe.

Science Explanation

When the soap touches the water an invisible and thin barrier of water is broken. This causes the pepper to be scattered around the bowl.
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At the surface of any water or bodies of water there is a barrier made up of water molecules, which are very small pieces of water, sticking together. This barrier is called surface tension and can be penetrated easily but also can hold up objects like a carefully placed paper clip, which would normally sink.
Think back to any time you have done a belly flop… chances are, it really hurt! This is because the surface tension of the water acts like a wall and when your stomach hits it, it tries to stop it.
It is created by the connection of many water molecules together in long chains.
The pepper flakes are held up at first because they don’t break the surface tension when they are initially placed on the water.
However, soap is nonpolar (or hydrophobic) which means that it is repelled by water. This means that when it is dropped in it breaks the bonds between water molecules, breaking the surface tension, allowing for the pepper flakes to disperse throughout the water, sink, and fly to the sides.
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Written by Lance Evensen From our friends at KiwiCo