Melting Snow
In what form will snow melt the fastest?
Materials Needed
Snow
Plates
Salt
Paper and Pencil
Melting Snow
Difficulty Level: Medium
Time Needed: 30 minutes
Best done: Indoors AND Outdoors
Mess Level: Medium
Materials Needed
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Snow
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3 or more plates
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Salt (optional)
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Pencil (optional)
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Observation pages (optional)
Time to Experiment!
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For this experiment, your child will experiment with melting snow!
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Ask your child(ren) where they think the snow would melt the quickest/slowest. Do they think it will melt faster spread out or in a ball?
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Place the snow on a plate - try and have them same amount on each plate (some ideas):
-in a ball in the sun
-spread out in the sun
-in a ball in a shaded area
-spread out in a shaded area
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So why does snow take longer to melt in a ball? One of the main reasons is that the area of a ball that is exposed to heat and sun is less than if it is spread out. This means that the snow that is inside of the ball isn't getting as much heat and stays cold longer - making the entire thing stay cold!