Colorful Lather Printing

In this classroom activity, students explore the chemistry of polar and nonpolar substances and surfactants while marbling paper with consumer products. Shaving cream, a soap lather, is used as a base for supporting food color marbling patterns. Once the shaving cream is tinted, the excitement and m...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of chemical education 2007-04, Vol.84 (4), p.608A
Main Authors: Hershberger, Susan A. S, Nance, Matt, Sarquis, Arlyne M, Hogue, Lynn M
Format: Article
Language:English
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In this classroom activity, students explore the chemistry of polar and nonpolar substances and surfactants while marbling paper with consumer products. Shaving cream, a soap lather, is used as a base for supporting food color marbling patterns. Once the shaving cream is tinted, the excitement and marbling action continue as a drop of water on tinted shaving cream makes a clean white surface. As beautiful colored patterns are created, students refine their understanding of the hydrophilic and hydrophobic nature of the different marbling materials. Students compare diffusion of a dye in different materials, observe the wetting action of soap solutions and surfactants, and investigate a colloid.See Related Article.
ISSN:0021-9584
1938-1328
DOI:10.1021/ed084p608A