How do we keep food cool on a warm summer day?
There is a special thing we called insulation that can help keep things cool. Do you have a cooler or thermos at home? What is it made of? How is it built? Why does it keep things cold? You can going to build your own "cooler" to try to keep an ice cube as long as you can without melting. You cannot just put it back in the freezer!
What You Need
•2 ice cubes
•cardboard box (a smaller box might work better, but any size will do. Work with what you have. A tissue box works well.
•paper plate
AND any variety of the following:
•wax paper
•masking tape
•newspaper
•aluminum foil
•rubber bands
Anything else you think might work...Anything that will help with your design. (Except something that is already designed for this purpose)
Use the materials to make a "Keep-a-Cube" box that will keep an ice cube from melting.
Think about what makes ice melt as you design your box.
1. You can wrap up the ice cube, cover the box, or do anything else you can think of to keep the ice cube frozen for the longest time.
2 Put a second ice cube on a plate. This is your “control” cube. Don’t make any changes to this ice cube.
3 Wait 30 minutes.
4 Compare the ice cube in your Keep-a-Cube box to the ice cube on the plate. Which ice cube is bigger? Why?
You can try multiple trials, or attempts, but always have a "control" outside that you do nothing with to see how long it takes.
Another variation is to time how long it takes for the ice cube outside the box to melt then look at the ice cube inside to see how it is doing. Remember that each time your open your box and look at your ice cube, you are destroying the insulation you have created and making the cube melt faster.
Good luck! Do not forget to write your mission report!
There is a special thing we called insulation that can help keep things cool. Do you have a cooler or thermos at home? What is it made of? How is it built? Why does it keep things cold? You can going to build your own "cooler" to try to keep an ice cube as long as you can without melting. You cannot just put it back in the freezer!
What You Need
•2 ice cubes
•cardboard box (a smaller box might work better, but any size will do. Work with what you have. A tissue box works well.
•paper plate
AND any variety of the following:
•wax paper
•masking tape
•newspaper
•aluminum foil
•rubber bands
Anything else you think might work...Anything that will help with your design. (Except something that is already designed for this purpose)
Use the materials to make a "Keep-a-Cube" box that will keep an ice cube from melting.
Think about what makes ice melt as you design your box.
1. You can wrap up the ice cube, cover the box, or do anything else you can think of to keep the ice cube frozen for the longest time.
2 Put a second ice cube on a plate. This is your “control” cube. Don’t make any changes to this ice cube.
3 Wait 30 minutes.
4 Compare the ice cube in your Keep-a-Cube box to the ice cube on the plate. Which ice cube is bigger? Why?
You can try multiple trials, or attempts, but always have a "control" outside that you do nothing with to see how long it takes.
Another variation is to time how long it takes for the ice cube outside the box to melt then look at the ice cube inside to see how it is doing. Remember that each time your open your box and look at your ice cube, you are destroying the insulation you have created and making the cube melt faster.
Good luck! Do not forget to write your mission report!