Sharpie Diffraction Experiment

This looks like magic!

This is a cool experiment! How many colors do you think 1 sharpie has? Some people may think that a sharpie is just black, but is it made up of many different colors? Let’s check!

Materials

You probably have all these at home

1 Black Sharpie (or any black marker but Sharpies are preferred)

A Bowl full of Water (any bowl is fine)

A paper towel (A brown paper towel like the ones in school work too)

Steps

1. Take a six to twelve inch piece of the paper towel

(if your paper towel has places to rip the towel, rip the closest ridge)

2. 6 inches from the bottom of the paper towel, take your sharpie out and make a long line from one end of the paper towel to the other

(make sure the line is above the water when you put it into the water)

3. Stick the paper towel in the water (without crumpling it up!)

4. Wait a while and watch as the sharpie magically separates into multiple colors (like a rainbow!)

Conclusion

How does that work?

How many colors do you see? You should see a few including red, green, and blue, but the colors may change depending on which type of sharpie or marker you're using. Some people may say that it looks like a rainbow. The black color of a sharpie is made by mixing different colors together, just like when you mix paint together to make a different color. (mixing red and green makes brown).

What now?

Water can do a bunch of weird things with colors. Here is a video on another experiment you can do that is similar to this one.