science for tinies: melting ice cubes
May. 11th, 2011 10:58 amProject: Which Melts Faster?
Materials: three similarly-sized ice cubes, three containers (empty, cold water, and hot water - more like bathtub hot than teapot hot, safe for little hands)
Explanatory details: We stuck our fingers in the water to feel how one was cold and one was hot, then dropped an ice cube in each container.
How did it go: Good! The hot-water melting was fast enough that we could see a difference quickly, before we lost interest. We compared the two ice cubes in water - which was bigger, and which was smaller - and then compared the cold water cube to the one in air. A nice "bigger and smaller" exercise.
Things we talked about: Ice melts faster in cold water than in air, but fastest in hot water. We saw the ice cube in hot water disappear completely! Also, ice cubes float.
What Junie got out of it: Dropping things into water: always interesting. Once we had looked at ice for awhile, we added the duck and the rock and (recent addition) the cork, and fun was had while the lab assistant got some dishes washed.
Materials: three similarly-sized ice cubes, three containers (empty, cold water, and hot water - more like bathtub hot than teapot hot, safe for little hands)
Explanatory details: We stuck our fingers in the water to feel how one was cold and one was hot, then dropped an ice cube in each container.
How did it go: Good! The hot-water melting was fast enough that we could see a difference quickly, before we lost interest. We compared the two ice cubes in water - which was bigger, and which was smaller - and then compared the cold water cube to the one in air. A nice "bigger and smaller" exercise.
Things we talked about: Ice melts faster in cold water than in air, but fastest in hot water. We saw the ice cube in hot water disappear completely! Also, ice cubes float.
What Junie got out of it: Dropping things into water: always interesting. Once we had looked at ice for awhile, we added the duck and the rock and (recent addition) the cork, and fun was had while the lab assistant got some dishes washed.