Summary
Mark fills a swimming pool with gelatin to test whether a person can swim in Jell-O. Along the way he explores what makes some materials hold their shape and how hard it is to move through them.
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Ages 7+
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Talk about it
Every material has properties — like how stiff, thick, or slippery it is — that decide how it acts. Jell-O is a wobbly in-between of solid and liquid.
- Is Jell-O more like a solid or a liquid? What evidence supports your answer?
- Why is it so hard to swim through Jell-O compared to water?
- What property of a material matters most when you try to move through it?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: property, solid, liquid, gel.
Try it: Compare stirring a spoon through water vs. through pudding or yogurt. Which resists more? Name the property that differs.