What is the best Substance that can slow down the melting of glaciers?
Problem: What is the best substance to slow down the melting of glaciers?
Hypotheses: I predict that pepper will slow down the melting of glaciers the most. I think this because
the pepper will enclose the coldness in the ice.
Materials:
• 8 ice cubes
• 1tsp. pepper
• 1tsp. sugar
• 1tsp salt
• 1tsp vinegar
• 1tsp oil
• 1tsp baking soda
• 1tsp lemon juice
• Flat, leveled surface (counter top)
• Timer
• Paper
• Pencil
• Paper towel
Standardized Variable: amount of
substance, same water used for ice
cubes, timer, and the same surface,
same teaspoon.
Independent variable: The
substance.
Dependent variable: The substance
that, melts the ice slowest.
Procedure:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
First gather all supplied needed.
Next lay down a few pieces of paper towel onto a flat, leveled surface.
Choose one substance and take out one ice cube.
Take the teaspoon of the substance and put in on the ice cube.
Right when you do this you should start a timer to time how long it takes the ice cube to melt.
Then record you observation down on a sheet of paper.
Repeat steps 1-6 with all the different substances.
Then repeat steps 1-8 to confirm your results.
Observation:
Substance
Nothing
Pepper
Sugar
Salt
Lemon Juice
Baking Soda
Oil
Vinegar
Melting Time
(min.)
Other Obervations
18.21 Nothing
80.67 Nothing
109.39 Sugar hardened
salt hardend; changed
38.13 shape
57.46 At the end- changed shape
70.53 Bubbles
111.56 Layer of white on top
107.13 Layer of white on top
Conclusion:
My Hypothesis was that the pepper would slow down the melting of ice slower than any other
substance. The reason I thought this was because pepper is not liquid and it is a solid substance
therefore, I thought that the pepper would prevent the ice from melting. My hypothesis was not correct
because I concluded that oil made the ice melt the slowest. My Dada concluded that Salt-38.13, Sugar109.39, Pepper-80.67, Vinegar- 107.13, oil- 111.56, baking soda- 70.53, and lemon juice- 57.46.
According to the data I collected, the oil was the best substance to prevent ice from melting. If I did this
experiment again and I could chance one thing it would be, the ice cube size, because I didn’t measure
the ice cube each time. When I did this experiment an error that occurred was that some of the
substances came off the ice cube and created problems therefore I had to do the substance again. The
reason why I think oil was the substance that slowed down the melting the most is because oil is also a
substance that is thick therefore it can keep the coldness of the ice in between the oil and ice, creating
the ice to melt slower. If we took a thin layer of oil and put it on a glacier, it would be interesting to see
what would happen and if drinking water would still be good.