Science Fair

Grown-ups

Does ice melt faster in water or in air?

2nd–6th grade · 1 day of testing · free · ages 7 to 12 · 90 minutes a sitting

  • 💧 Water
What you need for the ice in water or in air project: ice cubes, all from the same tray, clear plastic cups, all the same size, cold water from the fridge, warm water, a measuring cup

My hypothesis

If I change where the ice cube sits, then how long the ice cube takes to melt will ______, because ______.

You fill in the blanks. Think about which one, water or air, gets warmth to the ice faster. A guess is a good because: the test finds out.

Change, measure, keep the same

CHANGE

where the ice cube sits: In the air, In cold water, In warm water

MEASURE

how long the ice cube takes to melt, in minutes

KEEP THE SAME

  • ice cubes from the same tray
  • one cup of water in each cup that has water
  • the same kind of clear cup
  • the same room, out of the sun

Scientists call the thing you change the independent variable and the thing you measure the dependent variable. The things you keep the same are the controls: if one of them changed too, you wouldn't know which change made the difference. Try each of the 3 levels 3 times.

What you need

  • Ice cubes, all from the same tray: 9 cubes
  • Clear plastic cups, all the same size: 9, the same size
  • Cold water from the fridge: 3 cups
  • Warm water: 3 cups, warm from the tap and never hot
  • A measuring cup
  • A stopwatch or a kitchen timer
  • Masking tape, to mark lines

Steps

  1. Label nine clear cups with tape: three air, three cold water and three warm water.
  2. Pour a cup of fridge-cold water into the cold cups, and a cup of warm tap water into the warm cups.
  3. Leave the three air cups empty, and stand all nine cups out of the sun.
  4. Slide one ice cube into each cup, and start the timer when the last cube is in.
  5. Look at the cups often, and read the timer when a cube has turned all the way into water.
  6. Write the minutes for each cup in your table. If a cube lasts to 90 minutes, write 90.
  7. Find the mean time for each place, and draw a bar graph.

Every step is one you can do yourself, with a grown-up nearby. Write each number down straight away, in the table below, so nothing is lost.

Your results table

MY RESULTSPeabody 🦉 peabody.kids/science-fair

Name ______________________ Fair day ____________

Question: Does ice melt faster in water or in air?

I changed: Where the ice sits   I measured: how long the ice cube takes to melt (minutes)

Where the ice sitsTry 1 (minutes)Try 2 (minutes)Try 3 (minutes)Mean
In the air
In cold water
In warm water

MY GRAPH (a bar graph: where the ice sits along the bottom, minutes up the side)

What I noticed: ______________________________________________

From 4th grade, add the tries for each level and divide by how many there were: that's the mean, and it goes in the last column. Then draw a bar graph, one bar for each thing you tried.

📊 Make my graph🖨 Print the whole packet (9 pages)

Why it works

Ice melts when heat flows into it. Water carries heat to the ice much faster than air does, because its tiny bits are packed close together and bump into the ice all over. Air carries heat slowly, so an ice cube in air usually melts last.

Going further (7th and up): Change a second thing: add a cup of water at room temperature, and graph the melting time against the water's temperature.

Board layout

MY BOARD · 36 × 48 in tri-foldPeabody 🦉 peabody.kids/science-fair
  1. ❓ Question (10 × 8 in): Does ice melt faster in water or in air?
  2. 💭 Hypothesis (10 × 9 in): If I change where the ice cube sits, then how long the ice cube takes to melt will ______, because ______.
  3. 🧺 Materials (10 × 12 in): 7 things: see your list.
  4. 🪜 Steps (22 × 9 in): 7 steps, three tries at each level.
  5. 📊 Results (22 × 16 in): Your table (Where the ice sits down the side, tries across) and your bar graph.
  6. ✅ Conclusion (10 × 14 in): My hypothesis was right / partly right / not right. I know because…

Materials to list: Ice cubes, all from the same tray; Clear plastic cups, all the same size; Cold water from the fridge; Warm water; A measuring cup; A stopwatch or a kitchen timer; Masking tape, to mark lines.

Bring photos or drawings of your test. Nothing wet, hot, powered or alive on the table.

This project at your grade

1st–3rd gradeTries: three at each level (one is fine at a first fair). The table: levels and tries, numbers or pictures. The graph: a picture, or a simple bar graph. The conclusion: what happened, in their words.
4th–6th gradeTries: three at each level. The table: units in the header and a mean column. The graph: a bar graph, or a line for a number that grows. The conclusion: right, partly or not, and the numbers that show it.

From 4th grade up, the table gets a mean column. See every project for 2nd grade, or print a blank results table.

What a judge will ask

  • What did you change, and what did you measure? I changed where the ice cube sits and measured how long the ice cube takes to melt, in minutes.
  • What did you keep the same, and why does that matter? I kept ice cubes from the same tray and one cup of water in each cup that has water the same, so the only difference was where the ice cube sits.
  • How many times did you test it? 3 times at each of my 3 levels.
  • If you did it again, what would you change or test next? I'd add a cup of water at room temperature, and graph the melting time against the water's temperature.

Make it yours

Keep this project on this device and Peabody counts down to your fair day, with a plan for each day. Nothing is sent anywhere.

Try next

👨‍👩‍👧 For grown-ups and teachers: how much to help, the safety rules, and running a school fair. Science fair v0.16.1 · Checked .

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