These activities all involve ice and color to help cool down the last few days of summer.
Mixing Colors (for young children)
Then pair up different colors in different bowls. As the ice cubes melt, the colors will start to mix. See if the kids can guess ahead of time which colors will form. Once you've done it with just pairs of colors, try it with three different colored ice cubes.
Rainbow Tunnels
In several small dishes, put a bit of water, salt and food coloring. Set yourself up with a nice variety of colors. Now the fun begins! Start pouring the colors onto the ice. Don't pour too much at once, an eyedropper or even a spoon would be helpful. Also BE CAREFUL. Salt lowers the freezing point of ice, so the ice gets colder . If you have salt on your skin and then put ice on it, you can get a minor form of frostbite. So I would not recommend touching these ice cubes or the salt water colors with your bare hands. It is the salt lowering the melting point that makes this work (it is also what allows you to make your own ice cream). When you add salt the ice immediately around it starts to melt. The salt then slowly melts a tunnel through the ice. If you do this outside, not only will the warmth help melt the ice cubes faster, the light makes the ice cubes look really cool (no pun intended).
Learn more:
http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/solutions/faq/why-salt-cools-icewater.shtml
http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/ch15/colligative.php
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/chemical/meltpt.html#c1
Some green ice. |
- food coloring
- water
- ice trays (or small containers to freeze the water in)
- bowls/cups (preferably light colored or clear)
Then pair up different colors in different bowls. As the ice cubes melt, the colors will start to mix. See if the kids can guess ahead of time which colors will form. Once you've done it with just pairs of colors, try it with three different colored ice cubes.
Rainbow Tunnels
- food coloring (or other form of liquid color)
- salt
- water
- large-ish containers
Image from artsandcreativity.blogspot.com |
Learn more:
http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/solutions/faq/why-salt-cools-icewater.shtml
http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/ch15/colligative.php
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/chemical/meltpt.html#c1
Hey! I love your blog. Its so informational and fun. The internet really needs more sites like this, where education and fun are one and the same :D I wish you the best in the future and good luck with blogging. Yay science. also cool ice. I like the school spirit.
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