Introduction

Water is the basic necessity of everyone as we all know and it is important for our survival. Water is used in all its three states and all the three states are equally useful. One such state is Ice too. Yes, the saviour in summers, the one you eat or use with your drinks to beat the heat. The one which is so calm to see and yet the science behind it always amazes us. Ice has been a mystery for a long time now as its formation and even the process of melting to form what it is made up of again. There is a lot to learn and if we add a bit of a fun with learning, what do we get? Experiments.

Let's do a science experiment than to unveil the reality of ice melting.

Apparatus

  1. Bowls or dishes for the formation of ice
  2. A large tray to put up ice
  3. Salt used in home
  4. Food colouring or liquid watercolours whichever is available
  5. Dropper or spoon

Procedure

Step 1

To begin this, you need ice to make ice by fitting water in different containers so that you get ice of different variants.

To begin this, you need ice to make ice by fitting water in different containers so that you get ice of different variants.


Step 2

Keep the ice on a baking tray gently keeping in mind that it does not melt a lot because then there will be nothing to see.

Keep the ice on a baking tray gently keeping in mind that it does not melt a lot because then there will be nothing to see.


Step 3

Sprinkle a bit of a table salt over the ice now.

Sprinkle a bit of a table salt over the ice now.


Step 5

Now use the dropper to put some food colouring over the top of the ice.

Now use the dropper to put some food colouring over the top of the ice.


Result

Now why we did it?  Well, it is fun but the most important part is that it highlights the tunnels and crevices, ice forms while melting and it is beautiful to see the same.

Now you can go and see the same pieces in the sunlight while the food colouring will highlight the way ice melts and it is beautiful to see so. The results were astonishing. Bring it back to the sunlight and then you will be able to see the real magic. The tunnels and the way it swirls is now clearly visible and the place from where the ice melts too.

But then your heart asks for more. This time you take the differently sized ice variant and put the salt first on both the sides making it melt faster. To add a bit of more colour, we brought more food colouring and made it really colourful this time so that it can be actually clearly seen.

Conclusion

You can continue doing this experiment again and again with a different variance of the ice though with different colours to see the same phenomenon every time to make you wonder more. Though it is fascinating to see, ice melting and it is a beautiful process but somehow we can not neglect the fact that it is a huge problem for us at a global level as ice caps are melting too due to global warming and sea level is rising up. Well, you know the rest so now when you know the science behind the same, remember that disasters look beautiful in the beginning.

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