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Carmen Panduro

Mrs. Stevens

Physical Science

12 December 2018

What Is The Fastest Way To Melt A Crayon?

I’ve always heard of people melting crayons to make art. But how did they melt their

crayons? There are so many different ways to melt a crayon. Which way was most efficient for

an art project though? All of these questions encouraged me to test it. What, is the fastest way to

melt a crayon, without taking too long or making a huge mess? The average speed of melting a

crayon on the stove is 2.8 minutes. The stove was the fastest time that I recorded for melting the

crayons down into a liquid and it took more that 1 minute. I thought that ​if​ I put a crayon in a

microwave, hair dryer, stove, oven, double boiler, and a crockpot ​then ​the stove would melt the

crayon the fastest.

What Is the Difference between Amorphous and Crystalline Solids?

Amorphous solids and crystalline solids have a lot of differences. For instance,crystalline

solids are firm and incompressible. They often form geometric shapes​.( Bytes)​ ​ Amorphous solids

have no angles and do not show a definite shape. When it comes to heat, amorphous solids have

a very wide range of melting points while crystalline solids have a very specific melting point.

(​Madisha)​Also, crystalline solids have very rigid edges while amorphous solids are less rigid and

much more smooth. (​Kochunni)​Crystalline solids have flat faces and angles that intersect.

(​Libretexts)

How Do Blow Dryers Produce Heat?

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Inside of the barrel of a blow dryer there is something called a nichrome wire. The

nichrome wire is used in toasters as well. The nichrome wire is coiled up inside of the blow

dryer. (​Toothman,)​When you plug in the blow dryer it heats up the nichrome wire. (​Editor)​Then

air is blown through the hair dryer. The air is forced to go through the coiled nichrome wire

which causes the air to heat up. (​Toothman) ​Once the air is hot it blows out of the end of the

blow dryer.

How Do Stoves Produce Heat?

Inside of a gas stove there are many important components needed for the stove to work.

The first and probably most important part is something called a pilot light. A pilot light is a

small flame burning under every burner. The flame never goes out. You can’t blow it out and it

doesn’t go out when you turn of the stove. (​McGee) ​The next necessity are the pipes and the tiny

holes in the pipes. When you turn the knob to turn on the stove gas is sent through the pipes. As

it travels oxygen flows in through the tiny holes and combines with the gas. This makes the

mixture combustible. (​Joachim and Andrew)​The pipes lead right to the pilot light. When the

oxygen and gas meet the pilot light all of the gas and oxygen ignites causing the flame. When

you turn the knob more the flame gets bigger because when you turn the knob it adds more

oxygen and more gas.

How Do Microwaves Produce Heat?

Microwaves have a thing inside them called a magnetron. A magnetron injects

microwaves, as in the heat waves, into whatever is inside of the microwave. (​Hogeback) ​A

microwave is an electromagnetic heat waves that passes through anything that is inside of the

microwave. The electromagnetic waves have a frequency of approximately 2.45 GHz.(​Zerner)

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They are tiny and they travel at the speed of light. (​Spector) ​It’s kind of crazy how much more

complicated microwaves are then you thought.

How Do You Accurately Measure the Amount of Time at Which Something Melts?

The temperature at which a solid melts is called its melting point. A melting point is

usually a range of temperatures at which an object melts.(​Melting Points) ​Once you find the

melting point then it will help you know if the substance is pure or impure. If the substance is

impure it will have a wider range of temperatures. If the substance is pure it will have a smaller

range of melting point temperatures.(​Yoder.)​ Most crystalline solids are pure and have a smaller

range of melting points. Most amorphous solids are impure and have a larger range of melting

points.(​Britannica)

How Does Surface Area Impact The Speed at Which An Object Melts?

Surface area doesn’t impact the speed at which something melts on all objects. When it

comes to an ice cube the larger the surface area the faster it melts. This doesn’t not occur with all

objects. For instance, color affects the speed at which a crayon melts more than the surface area.

A black crayon will melt faster than a yellow crayon because darker pigments melt faster than

lighter pigments.(​education.com)​ A crayon would probably melt faster with a more direct flame

hitting its surface.(Interview Notes)

I thought that if I melted a crayon using a microwave, hair dryer, stove, oven, crockpot,

and double boiler then the stove would melt it the fastest, and I found out that I was right and the

stove did melt it the fastest. The stove melted the crayon the fastest because it was a more direct

heat source. The oven took the longest because the oven did not have a direct flame. Instead, it

has more of an overall heat source that not only makes the crayon hot but it makes the entire
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oven hot. All of the different ways to melt the crayon were pretty easy. I would say that the

hardest one was the hair dryer cause hot melted crayon was splattering everywhere. If you are

ever gonna melt crayon you are gonna be really thankful that you decided to read this paper.
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Works Cited

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Crystalline and Amorphous Solids: Explanation, Differences, Examples, Etc.” Toppr Bytes,

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Interview notes

Joachim, David, and Andrew Schloss. “The Science of Cooktops - Article.” FineCooking, Fine

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www.majordifferences.com/2013/02/difference-between-crystalline-and.html​.
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Libretexts. “12.1: Crystalline and Amorphous Solids.” Chemistry LibreTexts, National Science

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2018,

www.differencebetween.net/science/difference-between-crystalline-and-amorphous/

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www.hunker.com/12000410/how-do-gas-stoves-work

Melting Points

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Zerner, Toby. “The Physics of Microwave Ovens.” The Physics of Microwave Ovens, 2010,

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