Beaconhouse School System

Beaconhouse School System Basic instructions for making a video Academic Year 2020-21
 Beaconhouse School System

Experiment 1: Background

HOW DO THESE BUGS WALK ON WATER?

Next time you’re at the lake or floating down the river, look closely at the water
for these insects.

There’s a reason Spider-Man is such a popular superhero: Spiders and insects can do a lot of
amazing things humans can't. For instance, take the mesmerizing way some bugs can "walk"
across lakes, puddles and even streams. Although it looks like magic, this amazing feat is all
due to these insects' delicate body structures and the water's surface tension.

To understand how it all works, imagine rain falling on a car windshield. When a drop of
rainwater lands, it maintains its droplet shape rather than spreading out evenly across the
surface of the glass. This is because the water molecules cling together, giving the droplet a
defined outer edge that acts like a microscopically thin skin. Because these water-walking
insects are so light, their long, thin legs distribute their weight evenly and prevent them from
breaking the surface tension of the water.

Beaconhouse School System Basic instructions for making a video Academic Year 2020-21
 Beaconhouse School System

Experiment 1: Material & Instructions

To explore how Surface tension allows a water strider

to "walk on water"

Make a Paper boat/Paper fish Swim with Surface Tension

Materials

• Shallow tray
• Tap water
• Piece of paper
• Medicine dropper (optional to add small drops of liquid soap)
• Soap bar/liquid soap or any other detergent

Procedure

1. Cut out a small “fish” shape from your piece of paper. Make sure the
fish has a V-shaped notch in its tail.
2. Fill your shallow tray partially with water.
3. Caefully place the paper fish on the surface of the water at one end of
the tray, with its tail facing outward. Make sure the fish floats and you
do not push it under the water.
4. Use the medicine dropper to carefully place a single drop of soap on
the water in the V-shaped notch of the fish’s tail. What happens?
5. Empty, rinse out, and dry the tray, cut out a new paper fish, and try
again. Do you get the same result?
6. Try re-using one of the paper fish with fresh water, re-using the tray of
water with a new paper fish, or both. Can you get it to work a second
time? Why or why not?

Extra: try cutting out and testing some different shapes. Do the shapes have
to be “streamlined,” like a fish? What if the shape is symmetric, like a circle,
or blocky like a square?

Extra: try the experiment with different materials like black pepper or paper
clip along with the rest of the above materials except piece of paper.

Observations and Results: Explain it while making video.

Beaconhouse School System Basic instructions for making a video Academic Year 2020-21