We have had some very rare cold weather recently. Snow and ice is a rarity here, and when we do get it, it warms right up and melts. This week, we had 2 1/2 snow days and our roads are still icy a week later. By the time we got back to school, the snow that remained was frozen solid, so we couldn't do some of the fun snow activities I've seen posted, but I did want to take advantage of this as much as possible.
We weren't able to go outside, since the ice was so slick and the temps were so low. This is what our steps from the classroom to the playground looked like on Friday, 6 days after the snow.
We heard lot about crews icing and sanding the roads, so we decided to experiment. We chipped up some of the ice from the back stairs of our classroom. We put the same amount in 2 pans.
We sprinkled table salt on the ice in one pan and marked it with an "S".
Within 20 minutes, the change was noticeable. The pan with salt added was definitely melting faster.
The kids really enjoyed checking on the ice. I found it amusing that the kids would detour their paths through the classroom so they could walk by and check the melting process. Within an hour, both pans were completely melted.
We also checked our steps and found they were still frozen solid. I loved hearing the kids thoughts on the melting process --we had some great conversations about our findings!
Stay warm!
Ayn- I love the salt experiment. For older children, it is fun to experiment with salt and to come to the realization that at a certain temperature, the effects of adding salt are not noticable. Perhaps our indoor water and ice experiments will evolve to include salt soon too :).
ReplyDeleteWhat a great science activity - love that the conversation kept going long after the process was completed:)
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