What it shows
Heat melts ice. The speed of melting depends on how warm the place is and whether the ice is covered or not.
The science
Ice melts when it takes in heat. Sunlight and warm surfaces give heat quickly. A woollen cloth is an insulator that slows the heat reaching the ice, so the ice melts slower. A steel plate is a good conductor and moves heat into the ice quickly.
Materials
Cost: free. Many items come from home or from waste; spare parts such as LEDs, motors and wire are in the store.
- Four equal ice cubes from the freezer
- Four small plates, one steel, one plastic
- A woollen cloth or sock
- A clock
- Paper and pencil
Safety
For this project: Handle ice with care so fingers do not get too cold. Wipe spills so no one slips.
Never use mains electricity: power models with cells, batteries or a low-voltage adapter. Sharp and hot tools, flames and lab chemicals need an adult or your teacher beside you. Keep magnets, button cells and small parts away from young children, and wash your hands after making.
All the safety rulesStep by step
8 steps. Do them in order, and test each part before you go on to the next. Write what you notice in a notebook as you go.
Take four equal ice cubes from the freezer at the same time.
Put one on a plate in the Sun, one on a plate in shade, one wrapped in cloth in shade and one on a steel plate in shade.
Note the starting time on your paper so you can work out how long each one takes.
Look every ten minutes and note how much ice is left, large, small or gone.
Write the time each cube finishes melting.
Order the cubes from fastest to slowest.
Explain why the one in the Sun melted fastest and the one in the cloth slowest.
Draw a bar chart of the melting times on paper.
What you should see
The ice in the Sun and on steel melts fastest, and the cube in the woollen cloth lasts the longest.
Viva questions
A teacher or a judge will ask how it works. Try to answer each question before you open it, then compare.
1What melts ice?
Heat.
2Why did the cloth keep the ice longer?
Wool is an insulator that slows heat.
3Why did steel melt the ice quickly?
Metals conduct heat well.
4What do we call water turning to ice?
Freezing.
Take it further
Wrap ice in foil and compare it with ice wrapped in newspaper.
Change one thing, measure what happens, and add a table or chart of your readings: that is what turns a model into your own investigation.
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