Ice Experiment

To finish up our science unit about water, we decided to do an experiment with water in it's solid form: ice. We've been talking about how liquid water turns into a solid when it is exposed to cold air and solid water turns into liquid water when it is exposed to warm air. Students were given a task: they needed to create an environment inside of a box that would keep an ice cube solid for a long period of time. The first day, students were placed in groups and were told to create a design for their boxed environment. Groups were only allowed to pick six items to create their fridge-like environment: a box (this was a necessary item), q-tips, pipe cleaners, wax paper, paper cup, aluminum foil, masking tape, and rubber bands. After students created their designs, they needed teacher approval before the next day when they would actually create this design.

The following day, we were ready to create these designs. Students went back into their groups with their materials and created their new inventions. Once their designs were completed, students were given an ice cube to, quickly, place in their box and close the lid. We placed another ice cube on a paper plate in the front of the classroom so that we could watch it and discover how long an ice cube would last without the fridge-like environment helping it. Once this ice cube completely melted (it took about 3 hours) we opened up our designs to see which group created the best environment for solid water. 

Two groups had their ice cube completely melted, while three of the groups had better results with part of their ice cube remaining solid. The best group used the smallest amount of the box so that the cold air of the ice would remain cold in that confined space. After examining their designs, the students reflected on what they could have done better to keep the air colder in their box so that the ice cube would have remained solid longer. Below is a picture of the winning group's ice cube after three hours in their box. Great job to all of the students who participated in this experiment!