What is Water’s Personality?

On April 14th, we held a workshop at West Valley Branch Library to discuss one main question: What is Water’s Personality? Essentially, we wanted to work with participants to discover the many different aspects and properties of this wonderful compound called H2O. 

To do so, we set up three different stations: a DIY lava lamp station that inspired creativity by discussing the relative densities of oil and water, a water droplet station that explored surface tension by adhesion and cohesion, and a waterfall string station that focused mainly on the adhesion properties of water.

At the end of the lab, we presented a challenge to separate groups of participants: by using only tinfoil and tape, each team had to form a boat that could not only float on water, but also support the weight of as many pennies as possible without sinking.

With this lab and its many activities, our group took several families on a journey to discover multiple distinct water properties and behaviors, from density, to surface tension, to cohesion and adhesion. We had an amazing time working together with participants during this workshop, and we look forward to hosting more events in the future!