Melting Ice Experiment

Have you ever wondered what makes ice melt faster? Try this experiment to find out!

What you will need: 

• Small paper cups 
• Water 
• Scissors  
• A muffin tin 
• Salt  
• Sugar 
• Kettle for boiling water 
• ​Water 

What to do: 

• The night before freeze water in the 6 paper cups. When frozen, cut the ice out of the paper cups and set each in a section of the muffin tin.  
• ​Ask yourself which variable you think will melt the ice the fastest: cold water, hot water, salt, sugar and steam from the hot water. Write down your predictions about each of the variables and how they will affect the ice. 
• Watch the ice over an hour to see which substance melted the ice the fastest! 

What does this show us? 

• This shows us that certain substances melt ice the fastest. For example, hot water did the best job at melting the ice fast. However, salt also melted the ice fast as well.  
• Why do you think we put salt on the streets in the winter to melt ice and snow rather than hot water? Well hot water can cool and freeze shortly after it melts the ice, creating more ice!  
• What else do you think can melt ice quickly? You can also try putting sand on some ice in this experiment as well to see how well it melts ice! 

For more information and pictures please visit https://www.thechaosandtheclutter.com/archives/melting-ice-experiment ​