Miss Humbert and her first graders discussed the differences between different chemical reactions and what happens when milk reacts with detergent.
They started by using the scientific method, and made predictions about what they thought would happen. Miss Humbert explained that milk is made up of minerals, proteins, and fats so when the dish soap enters the milk, the fat begins to break up. The soap molecules try to attach to the fat molecules in the milk. Normally this would be invisible, but the food coloring helped students see all the movement. The students really loved this experiment and how it can be demonstrated at home just by using milk, food coloring, a pie plate, and detergent.