Candy hearts are a fun, sugar-loaded way to give someone some love! They also are a great way to explore a key concept in chemistry: Solubility. Solubility is how well a substance dissolves in another substance. The substance being dissolved is called the solute. The solute is dissolved in the solvent.

For this experiment, our solutes are candy hearts and our solvents are room temperature water, olive oil and white distilled vinegar, but you can use any liquids you may have at home.

Lab Safety Note: When doing an experiment with food, you should not eat the food during the experiment. Set some aside to eat later, before you begin.

Age Range: All ages

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes

Learning Time: 5-20 minutes

Equipment:

• Clear containers
• Spoons
• Timer

Materials:

• Candy Hearts
• Liquids of choice

The Experiment:

1. Fill each clear container with a different liquid. Make sure you use the same amount of liquid in each container. For our experiment we used 50mL of water, 50mL of olive oil and 50mL of white distilled vinegar.

2. Make predictions! How well do you think the candy hearts will dissolve in each liquid?

3. Drop one candy heart in each liquid.

4. Set a timer for 5 minutes.

5. After 5 minutes, see how the candy hearts have changed. Jot down your observations.

6. Continue checking on the candy hearts every 5 minutes.

7. Discuss which liquids caused the candy hearts to dissolve the fastest/slowest and why.

Explore Further:

• Try different liquids like orange juice or soda. Does the candy heart dissolve faster/slower?
• Try changing the temperature of the liquid such as hot water and cold water. What do you notice?
• Try using a different candy. Do you notice any difference from the candy heart?