Icy Experiments
Fill a small plastic container about halfway with water. Make a prediction: How much do you think the water will expand when it’s frozen? Use a Sharpie to draw lines on the container that mark the starting water level and your guess. Wait for it to freeze, then observe the results. What did you discover?
What happens when you add other chemicals to water? Create three equal cups: one with plain tap water, one with tap water + table salt (sodium chloride) and one with tap water + Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate). Put them in the freezer and check back often to see how long it takes each one to freeze. Do the additional chemicals change how the water freezes?
Freeze water in a variety of plastic containers of all sizes and shapes—think ice trays, yogurt containers, food storage bins, etc—and experiment with adding plastic toys, coins, beans, chalk, berries, leaves or other easy-to-find items. Can you make an artistic frozen masterpiece? Excavate a frozen fossil like the scientists in Dinosaurs of Antarctica?
ACTIVITIES: 40+ creative ways to play with ice and Ice activities for every season
CAREER CONNECTION:
“Ice can be as weak as a cookie or as strong as concrete.”
-Dr. Erland Schulson, Ice Research Laboratory, Department of Engineering, Dartmouth College