Narrative Report: Color Drop

Food coloring illustrates diffusion in water. Diffusion is the mixing of molecules due to
their random motion, whether in a liquid or a gas. Because molecules in cold water have less
kinetic energy than in warm water, the diffusion process is much slower than in warm water. This
has been evident in the recent experiment/test conducted in our General Chemistry class last
Friday.

Firstly, we poured equal amounts of hot and cold water on two separate plastic cups.
Next, a small amount of food coloring on both cups at the same time. In this procedure, we
observed that the moment we drop the food coloring into the water it slowly goes down,
spreads out, until it completely stains the water. We also discovered that the rate of diffusion
differs between two glasses of water of different temperatures. The food coloring dissolves
faster in hot water than it does in cold water. This is because the water molecules in hot water
have more energy and move faster than the molecules in cold water. This makes it easier for the
food coloring to get mixed throughout the hot water. Diffusion does not require agitation, such
as stirring, though agitation does speed the process. In the case of food coloring in water, the
water is the solvent while the food coloring is the solute. Once they've mixed, they make a
solution. Diffusion takes time, though how much time depends on the kinetic energy of the
molecules randomly bouncing among each other.

At the end of the experiment, by carefully following each of the procedures, we were
able to witness and prove how the rate of diffusion changes across different temperatures of
water using food coloring and how it correlates to the kinetic molecular theory.