Freeze and Frost

We did another science experiment from our $1 Target book this week. Actually, we did two. The first one didn't work out the way it was supposed to, and Oliver was so disappointed that I found another quick experiment to do until I have everything to attempt the first experiment again.

Before starting each experiment, the book asks a question and includes a space for the child to write his/her prediction. This experiment was about condensation and water vapor, so the question was: Frost is the thin layer of ice that forms on grass, trees, cars, and other things when the weather turns cold. Why do you think this happens?

Oliver's answer was, "Because it gets so cold that it turns into tiny ice cubes." Love it!! He's so smart. :-)

To do this one, you'll need:
a clean, dry, metal coffee can with a plastic lid (or a small stainless steel mixing bowl, plastic wrap, and a rubber band)
8-10 ice cubes
1/2 cup salt
spoon

We put the ice cubes in the can, sprinkled it with the salt, and stirred it up to make sure all of the ice cubes were covered.




Then we put the lid on the can and set it aside, checking it in 10 minute intervals. After the first 10 minutes, there was a thin layer of frost around the base of the can -- caused because the cool temperature inside the can also made the temperature outside the can cooler, which made the invisible water vapor in the air turn into liquid, which then froze because of the cold temperature. Wow, even I learned something! :-)


This is what it looked like after 30 minutes, after the initial frost started to melt.


It'll be fun to re-do these experiments in a couple of years when Oliver will be able to understand them better, but for now we're just having a good old time being scientists. :-D