Science Experiments- The Runaway pepper

This term Room 8 are putting on their lab coats, safety glasses and transforming themselves into mad scientists. We plan to do lots of POPPING, FIZZING and EXPLODING all in the name of Science. We will be conducting some "hands on" experiments and wowing you with our scientific knowledge.

We know all experiments start with:
      asking a question "I wonder what would happen if.. ?              
      then making a prediction/guess
      next conducting the experiment
      then  observing and recording the results 
      and finally understanding and explaining the science

Our first experiment is called "Runnaway Pepper."

Question:What would happen if we put a finger, with dishwashing liquid on it, into a bowl of water with pepper sprinkled on top?

Our class made several predictions including "our finger would get burnt", "the pepper would stick to our finger" and "the pepper would disappear."
Here's what actually happened

So why did this happen? Well, when dishwashing liquid mixes with water it weakens the surface tension of the water causing the water to move away and take the pepper along for the ride. It's as simple as that!