Learn about the impact of salt on ice in this fun and simple fishing for ice science experiment.
You Will Need
- Cup of water
- Ice cubes
- Salt
- String
The Experiment
- Place around a dozen ice cubes in the cup of water. They will float on the top.
- Try to catch the ice cubes with the string by placing the string over the ice cubes. The string won’t catch anything.
- Lay one end of the string in the water across the top of the ice cubes.
- Sprinkle salt across the ice cubes where the string is touching.
- Wait about 1 minute and carefully pull the string out of the water with the ice cubes attached to the other end. You caught the ice!
The Science
When salt is sprinkled over the ice, it lowers the ice’s freezing point and causes it to melt. Water around the ice melts and the string then sinks into the ice. However, because the salt has been used in such small amounts like in our experiment, and because the ice is surrounded by freezing temperatures, the water around the ice refreezes again quickly. This causes the string to get trapped in the ice cube as the water around it refreezes and the ice reforms around the string. You can then lift up the ice cube as it is stuck to the string.
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