======Color Changing Flowers======


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**Alternative titles:** Bicoloured Flowers
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====Summary====                   
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====Procedure====  
  - Fill separate glasses with water and add different food coloring to each.  
  - Trim the stems of white flowers such as daisies, gerberas, or carnations.  
  - Carefully split each stem lengthwise down the middle so that it has two “legs”. 
  - Place each leg of the stem into a different colored glass of water.  
  - Leave the flowers for a day or more, observing how the petals take on two distinct colors.

====Links==== 
Color Changing Flowers Experiment - Part 2 - Dr Boyd The Chemist: 
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📄 Bicoloured Flowers - Go Science Kids: [[https://www.gosciencekids.com/index.html%3Fp=1036.html]]\\


====Variations====
  * Try different types of flowers such as carnations, daisies, or roses.  
  * Use three or more colors by splitting the stem into additional sections.  
  * Test whether warmer water, sugar water, or vinegar affects the uptake of color.  
  * Try fluorescent dyes or tonic water under UV light for glowing flowers.



====Safety Precautions====
  * Adults should handle sharp knives or scissors when cutting stems.  
  * Food coloring can stain clothes and hands.




====Questions to Consider====
  * How does water travel up the flower stem? (Through xylem tubes via capillary action.)  
  * Why don’t the colors mix inside the flower? (Different xylem pathways carry water to different petal regions.)  
  * What would happen if you placed the flower in plain water after it had absorbed color? (The color may fade as plain water dilutes the pigment in the petals.)  
  * Do thicker or thinner stems absorb color more effectively? (Thinner stems often show results more quickly because water moves faster.)