Fishing for Ice!

Winter is officially here and the chilly temperatures are a constant reminder of the season. Check out this interesting experiment to“fish” for ice and explore its melting point. You can expand on this experiment by increasing or decreasing the amount of ice or salt used. You may even be able to catch multiple cubes at once!

Items Needed:

-       Ice Cubes

-       Glass of Water

-       Salt

-       String or Twine

-       Food Coloring for the Water (Optional)

Steps:

1.     Add 6 ice cubes to the glass and fill with water.

2.     Lay the string or twine over an ice cube.

3.     Sprinkle some salt over the string and ice. Wait 30seconds.

4.     Lift the string and the ice cube should come with it!

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What's Happening?

The salt works to lower the ice’s melting point and causes physical change to the cube. The surrounding temperature of the ice water is cold enough that it then causes the ice to refreeze, which makes it freeze to the string. That’s how you catch an ice cube!

Try different lengths of string or different materials to see if the ice will refreeze to it. What happens if you wait longer than 30 seconds? How about a minute? At what point does the ice fully melt? Try out different scenarios to explore the features of ice melting.

Source and Photo Source: https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/ice-fishing-winter-science/

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