- Emily Stoll
- Tuesday, September 01, 2020
During this science experiment, WLTX Meteorologist Danielle Miller is focusing on the importance of handwashing.
Lesson
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Regular handwashing is one of the best ways to remove germs, avoid getting sick and prevent the spread of germs to others.
To emphasize the importance of washing your hands, there's an experiment to emphasize this point.
Materials
- dish soap
- black pepper
- two bowls
- paper towel or dish rag
Instructions
- Fill one of the bowls with water and put dish soap in the other. The black pepper is going to act like germs or a virus - all the yucky stuff that you collect on your hands throughout the day.
- Sprinkle a little black pepper into the bowl with the water. Get a good layer on top. You will see the pepper float.
- Dip your finger into the pepper and swirl it around. You will see the pepper sticks to your finger. Those are the germs that latch onto your hands from just moving around and doing basic stuff.
- Clean off your finger with a paper towel or dish rag.
- Next, dip your finger in the bowl with the dish soap. Rub it around a little bit.
- Put your finger back in the bowl with the water and pepper, like you are washing your hands.
- Watch what happens to the pepper. The pepper goes away from the soap.
Evaluation
With this experiment, the soap on your finger breaks the surface tension that keeps the pepper on the water.
When it comes to germs or other viruses, that soap is going to break a layer of fat around the germs or virus that is going to take it off your hands and kill the virus. That's why it is so important to wash your hands - not just with water, but with soap and water.
Danielle Miller is a meteorologist at WLTX-TV in Columbia, SC who provides regular weekend forecasts and digital content during the week. Learn more about Miller and how she got interested in weather by clicking here.