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How to Make a Paperclip Float

If you've ever seen a water bug skimming across the surface of a pond, then you've seen surface tension in action. Surface tension is the "skin" on the top of a body of water where the water molecules are tightly packed together. You can take advantage of water surface tension to do a sort of magic trick using a paper clip. Although the mass of a paper clip is greater than that of water, you can get the paper clip to balance on the surface tension and appear to float on water.

Clear glass bowl
Tissue paper
Water
Clean dry paper clip
Pencil with eraser

Instructions

- 1
  Fill the clear glass bowl with water. Fill it up until the water reaches about 1/2 inch from the top of the bowl.
- 2
  Lay a paper clip on the top of the water to see if it will float. It will sink right to the bottom of the bowl. Remove the paper clip.
- 3
  Take the tissue paper and tear off a rectangular piece that is about 2 inches by 3 inches.
- 4
  Drop the tissue paper very gently on the top of the water.
- 5
  Without touching the tissue or the water, very gently drop a clean, dry paper clip on top of the tissue paper.
- 6
  With the eraser end of the pencil, gently poke the tissue paper without poking the paper clip. The tissue should sink and leave the paper clip floating on the surface of the water.

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