Ice on a String Experiment

 Age Range: 4-11

 

Equipment needed: Ice cube, salt, string, glass, water and scissors

 

Adult supervision required

Ice on a String Experiment

On this post, I will be showing a science experiment and a magic trick at the same time which is sure to impress your friends and family. You can see how to pick up ice with a single piece of string. This science experiment does require adult supervision and can help you think and learn about melting and freezing.

 For this experiment, you'll need the following items from the image below:

To do this experiment:

 Fill the glass to the top with water

Cut a piece of string around 20cm long

Place an ice cube in the water and it will float

Lay the string across the ice cube and glass

 Cover the ice cube and string with a layer of salt

Leave it to sit for 1 minute

 Carefully pick up both ends of the string

And there you go, you have picked up ice with a piece of string. Challenge your friends and family to see if they can do this experiment.

The science behind this:    

Salt lowers the freezing point of water to below 0 degrees. When you add salt to the ice cube, the salt lowers the melting point of the ice. The salt is in a thin layer, so it means a thin layer on top of the ice cube. The water cooled down further and re-froze around the string. This allowed the string to pick up the ice cube.

This is also why we use salt in winter to prevent roads from getting icy. The salt lowers the melting point of ice and stops roads from becoming icy and dangerous.

Watch the video to see how to do the ice on a string experiment:

 

Thanks guys and hope you enjoyed the post today. Be sure to leave a comment on how you found doing the ice on a string experiment and be sure to check out some of my other blog posts.😀