👉 Watch the video of Sarah’s school science experiment here!
Hello parents, teachers and students! We’re starting a new and exciting partnership with the San Antonio Zoo ahead of the 2023-2024 school year. While Sarah and David will be back in classrooms in the fall, this summer they’re at the San Antonio Zoo. Today’s experiment is all about the biology of nature’s most misunderstood fish...the shark!
Be sure to check out GMSA@9 on Wednesdays when Meteorologist Sarah Spivey does the demonstrations and explains the science behind it.
HERE’S WHAT YOU’LL NEED
- Oil
- Dish soap
- A bucket or large bowl of water
- 2 balloons
- A funnel
- Sharpies (optional)
DO THE EXPERIMENT
- Using the funnel, fill one balloon with oil and the other with dish soap. The balloons will only barely be filled. Try to get as much air as possible out of the balloon
- Decorate your balloons to look like sharks!
- Before placing the “sharks” in the water, try to guess which one will float and which one will sink
- Place the balloons in the water and watch as one floats to the top.
HOW IT WORKS
Sharks can weigh thousands of pounds, so why don’t they sink?? The answer is because they have oil inside of their bodies...specifically in their livers! The oil helps them stay afloat because oil is lighter than water.
In this experiment, you can clearly see that the balloon with oil in it floats to the top...just like a shark!
SCIENCE WITH SARAH
If you’d like Sarah and David to come to your school and conduct a science experiment live on KSAT, fill out this form. “Winners” are selected at random.
