Particle Theory of Matter - Convection

Aim: To observe convection in a liquid

Equipment: 200 mL Beaker, water, tweezers, a crystal of potassium permanganate, a drinking straw, Bunsen burner, heat mat, tripod and gauze mat.

Method:
1)Set up a bunsen burner on a heatproof mat. Put the gauze mat on the tripod but leave it just to one side of the Bunsen burner.

2)Fill a 200 mL beaker with 150 mL cold water.

3)Place the beaker on top of the tripod and gauze and allow it to settle for a few minutes.

4)Carefully insert a drinking straw down one side of the beaker, ensuring the straw is touching the bottom of the beaker. Be careful as you do not want to disturb the water too much.

5)Using tweezers, drop a crystal of potassium permanganate down the inside of the straw. Wait for the crystals to settle on the bottom of the beaker.

6)Very gently, so to not disturb the water, remove the straw.

7)Light the Bunsen and slide it under the tripod so that you are only heating the outside of the beaker where the crystal is. Observe.

Observations:
What I saw about this experiment is that the smell of it was unknown, the look of it was dark purple and a bit of light purple.The purple in the water rose to the top and started spreading around the beaker.