Use the dry erase marker to draw something on a plate. It could be a word or a picture, be creative! Take some water and pour enough to cover the surface of the plate. You’ll notice something peculiar happening with the marker drawing!

The marker is being lifted right off the plate and dancing in the water. This happens because the polymer found in dry erase markers does not actually allow the ink to stick to the surface of the plate. This allows the water to move underneath the ink of the dry erase marker. The ink is lighter than the water and therefore can float.

 Try this experiment with lots of different colors of dry erase markers. Is there a color that floats the best? 

Standards for Polymers

Next Generation Science Standards