The great candle experiment
In this activity, students cover a lit candle with an inverted jar in a saucer of water. The flame expires and the water rises up in the jar.
The candle experiment
Two of the stages of the candle experiment.
By the end of this activity, students should be able to:
engage in scientific debate, using observation to present ideas
understand the effects of heat in terms of expansion and contraction in this experiment.
Download the Word file (see link below) for:
introduction/background notes
what you need
what to do
discussion questions
scientific explanation
student instructions.
Nature of science
Explanations of observations can be tricky. Scientists need to be careful that their prior knowledge doesn’t lead to plausible explanations that actually turn out to be incorrect – or not the whole reason why something might happen.
