Have Fun Melting Snow

Experiment with snow either in class, or at home.

You will need the following items to do this experiment:

1. 3 equally sized clear bowls
2. 1 tray of ice cubes
3. Saran wrap
4. 1 Black trash bag
5. A cold winter day
6. Shining sun
7. Measuring cup
8. Watch
9. Notebook
10. Pen or pencil

Follow the steps below to complete this experiment:

1. You need a cold winter day that also has a shining sun for this experiment. You may have to alter which day you do this experiment so make sure you are flexible. If you don't want to get off track with your science class you can have kids do this experiment during one of their study halls.
2. Take 3 equally sized bowls and put 4 ice cubes in each bowl This should empty your ice cube tray.
3. Cover bowl number 1 with saran wrap.
4. Cover bowl number 2 with a black trash bag.
5. Leave the third bowl uncovered.
6. Set the bowls outside in the sun.
7. Have your student Hypothesize in their notebooks which bowl of ice will melt the fastest.
8. Check the bowls every fifteen minutes. You can set your watch to go off every fifteen minutes to remind yourself in case you got in to another subject in the meantime.
9. Have the students record in their notebooks what is happening in each bowl. This is part of observing and all scientists keep records like this.
10. After a time you should have the students measure how much water melted in each bowl. You can do this by removing the ice cubes and pouring the remaining water in to a measuring cup. Whichever bowl had the most water is the one that melted the fastest.
11. Talk with your students about why one bowl melted faster than another. What other factors could you test at a later date? You may want to try the thickness of the covers and some other color covers.