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šŸ§Ŗ Science with Sarah: Salt Dough Circuits šŸžšŸ’”

Make your own play-doh and learn about electricity!

Watch the video of Sarahā€™s school science experiment at Hawthorne Academy in the video player above.

Science with Sarah is in partnership with the San Antonio Zoo! Be sure to vote for San Antonio Zoo in the USA Today Best Zoo Lights poll: CLICK HERE. You can vote daily!

Are you looking for something fun to do at home that has a little bit of science behind it?

Hereā€™s a recipe for circuit fun, electrified Play-Doh!

Be sure to check out GMSA @9 on Wednesdays when KSAT Meteorologist Sarah Spivey does the demonstrations and explains the science behind it. To view, click on the video player above. Check out our Science with Sarah webpage for more fun science experiments!

HEREā€™S WHAT YOUā€™LL NEED

Materials needed to make conductive salt dough! (Copyright 2024 KSAT 12 -- All Rights Reserved)
  • A large bowl
  • Measuring cups
  • Flour
  • Salt
  • Water
  • Food dye
  • Vegetable oil
  • A 9v ā€œDā€ battery connector (LIKE THESE or THESE)
  • A 9v ā€œDā€ Battery (LIKE THESE)
  • Mini LEDs (LIKE THESE)

DO THE EXPERIMENT

  • STEP 1: Start by making the dough in the large bowl. Combine the 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup water, 1/4 cup salt, food dye, and a tiny bit of vegetable oil. Use your hands to mix until a ball forms.
Mix ingredients until a ball of dough forms (Copyright 2024 KSAT 12 -- All Rights Reserved)
  • STEP 2: Take two small globs of the homemade dough and place them around the wires of the LED. Take note of which side is positive and which side is negative. The positive wire of the LED is the longer one.
Stick an LED into two globs of dough (Copyright 2024 KSAT 12 -- All Rights Reserved)
  • STEP 3: Then, with the battery connector attached to the battery, put the positive (red) and negative (black) wires into their respective globs of dough. Does the LED light up?
Line up the positive wires with the positively charged dough and the negative wire with the negatively charged dough. (Copyright 2024 KSAT 12 -- All Rights Reserved)
  • STEP 4: Try and make fun shapes out of your circuit!

HOW IT WORKS

This is a great example of electric conductivity! The dough is conductive because it contains lots and lots of salt. Salt transports electricity easily.

As your students are making different shapes with the conductive dough, they will be able to troubleshoot. Note that if the two sides of the dough touch, the circuit will break and the LED will not light up.

SCIENCE WITH SARAH

If youā€™d like Sarah to come to your school and conduct a science experiment live on KSAT, fill out this form. ā€œWinnersā€ are selected at random.


About the Authors
Sarah Spivey headshot

Sarah Spivey is a San Antonio native who grew up watching KSAT. She has been a proud member of the KSAT Weather Authority Team since 2017. Sarah is a Clark High School and Texas A&M University graduate. She previously worked at KTEN News. When Sarah is not busy forecasting, she enjoys hanging out with her husband and cat, and playing music.

Robert Samarron headshot
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