The Ivory Soap Experiment

I've been seeing this Ivory Soap Experiment on Pinterest since I first started pinning. I've constantly said to myself, "Okay, I want to do this with the two crazy kids", and then I get busy and end up forgetting about it, until I see it on Pinterest yet again. Since we've been having a very low key afternoon, I decided that this is it! Today is the day to do the Ivory soap experiment! Finally! Oh, and like I said, it's all over Pinterest, so you can go there if you want more information or pictures. I originally saw it on the blog Our Chocolate Milk, so I followed their instructions.

So the first thing I did was to show the kids a bar of Ivory soap, and then told them that when this soap is made, it gets whipped up so that air pockets form. I cut it in half and let them take a look and examine it:

CLB was convinced he could see all the air pockets! Neither kid liked the smell of the soap, though...crazy kids!

I reminded them that the soap was made of water and that there were air pockets trapped in the soap, very similar to the water trapped in a kernel of corn. Then I asked them what they thought would happen if we microwaved the bar of soap. They were a bit mystified at first, so I asked them what a microwave does. Once they realized that I was talking about heating up something, especially kernels of corn, they shouted out, "Popcorn!" (it's actually great fun popping corn on the stove with kids so they can actually see the popping...another blog entry I suppose). So CLB's hypothesis was that the soap would blow up (so dramatic!). CLG was hoping the soap would magically transform into something she could eat (she is little after all, and we were talking about popcorn!).

So we had our hypothesis and decided to conduct our experiment! I cut the halves down again into quarters, and put one quarter onto a glass pie plate:

Do this with your kids! Don't let your kids do this by themselves or you'll end up with a mess!

Then we stuck the pie plate with the soap into the microwave and nuked it for 90 seconds. It probably could have stayed in there for only a minute, but I wasn't sure, so I followed directions. The kids were so surprised when it started puffing up, even though we had just talked about it!

Okay, I know, not the best picture, but you can see it starting to puff up. It happens right away, so don't take your eyes off it!

Here's what it looked like when it came out...so neat! Very light!!

Both crazy kids loved picking it up and feeling it's weight and texture. It was a bit warm when it came out, so be sure to test it before letting little hands play with it.

CLB especially enjoyed playing with it. At this point, he also wondered if it was edible like popcorn. Now he is old enough to know better! Another reason to do this with kids, not just letting them do this on his own!

All in all, this was a fun little experiment that both kids enjoyed. Not too messy and you can really build up the suspense if you like! Oh, and I believe it's still usable as soap! So guess what my wonderful husband gets to use to wash up with:

Fluffy soap, all for you, Hon! <3