Ice Lab

Hayley Petit Kathryn Burman Mrs. Mirolli STEM Chemistry- 5th hour 9/12/13

Purpose: To determine if ice melts faster in fresh water or salt water. Hypothesis: If ice is placed in salt water, then it will melt faster than if it was placed in fresh water. Materials: salt H2O, liquid and solid 2 standard cups 2 Dixie cups timer/clock measuring cup- graduated cylinder stirring utensil thermometer scale Procedure: 1. Measure out 90 mL in a graduated cylinder and pour it into a cup. Measure out another 90 mL and pour it into another cup. 2. Add a tablespoon of salt to one of the cups and stir until it is dissolved. 3. Weigh ice cubes in Dixie cups on a scale to make sure there are no major differences in their weights.

4. Take the temperature of the water in each cup to affirm that there are no major differences in either cup.

5. With a timer handy and set, place an ice cube in each cup of water simultaneously, and begin timing.

6. Record the times at which there is no solid part of the ice remaining in the cup of water. Data: Water Temperature: Salt: 75.2 degrees F Fresh: 75 degrees F Ice Weight: Salt: 11.2 g Fresh: 11.5 g

Conclusion: This experiment was designed to determine is ice melts faster in fresh or salt water, and consisted of placing almost identical ice cubes in a cup of fresh water and a cup of salt water simultaneously and recording the amount of time it took for each to melt. We hypothesized that if ice was placed in salt water, then it would melt faster than ice placed in fresh water. This proved to be incorrect when we performed the experiment. The ice in the fresh water melted in 3:48 minutes, and the ice in the salt water melted in 7:10 minutes. When we researched our results, we found that salt water is denser, and therefore transfers heat slower than fresh water, thus proving our results to be accurate. If we were to redo this experiment, we would make the ice cubes identical in weight to each other instead of just close in weight to make our data even more accurate.