Cucumber and Salt
Wit-Bit
In this post, I will be explaining how to conduct a cucumber and salt experiment that explains osmosis. Let’s begin!
All you need is 1 tablespoon of salt, 1 cucumber, a bowl, knife, and spoon.
This experiment does require adult supervision, so make sure you help your kids with this one. Have an adult cut the cucumber into coins. After the cucumber is cut up, put it into a bowl. Next, spread the salt onto the cucumber slices. Mix the cucumber up to ensure
that each slice is covered in salt. Now, leave the salted cucumber alone for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, look at the cucumbers. You should see that there is some water around the cucumbers and they look wet! Move the cucumbers to the side and tilt the bowl, you will see how much water was released.
But… how did this happen?
Cucumbers are made of 96% water. So, cucumbers have a high concentration of water, whereas salt has no water in it. When the salt is on the cucumber, the water molecules pass through the membrane and go from higher concentration (cucumber) to lower concentration (salt). Thus, we see the water outside the cucumber. This process is called osmosis!
Through this experiment, your kids can understand how Osmosis works in a simple way! Check us out on TikTok and Instagram for more content, and check out our other blog posts posted on stemchef.com for more fun food based experiments!
- Roshnee Gulati