100 Days of Science #57-- Which Has More Water Ice or Snow?

We had a bit of snow a few weeks ago and I was looking for a nice and easy science experiment to do with the boys.  

We have dome a few snow recipes over the years and I wanted something new.  We finally settled on discovering which had more water; a jar of snow or a jar of ice.  



We picked two mason jars that were the exact same size.  

We packed one as full of snow as we could and another full of whole sized ice cubes.  


I had the boys make predictions about which jar they thought they would melt first and which jar they thought would have the most water in it at the end.  We wrote down their predictions and set the jars aside; making sure to check on them every couple of hours.


The jar with the snow began melting first; much faster than the jar of ice.





It melted completely and we could already tell; even with large pieces of ice left that the jar of snow had far less water.



Ian has predicted that the snow would have less water since he watches a lot of survival shows and they often talk of how little water is in snow.  The other two boys had predicted that since more snow fits in a jar the snow would have more water.

We talked about how molecules in ice are tightly packed together in each cube but how snow crystals are spread out with lots of air between the molecules.  All that air takes up space and results in very little water. 


Others in this series:
53. Iodine and Starch Experiment
54. Flouride and Calcium Experiment
55. Botanical Gardens in Winter
56.  Making Cell Models

Linking Up With:


Comments

  1. What a great experiment! I love neat little science experiments like this. My Emily would like this! Have a great week!

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    1. Thank you! I do too! My favorite experiments are often some of the simplest.

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  2. Love how this teaches the importance of observation to good science.

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  3. How fun! A great one to remember if we ever get any snow in so very wet Georgia!

    Thanks for linking up @LiveLifeWell!

    Blessings,

    Amy

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    1. Thanks! We had a hard time with this experiment this year too; we've had an unusually wet winter this year in New England with very little snow falling in our area.

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  4. What a fun way to dive into science with your kids. I learned something new today :)

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    1. Glad I could help! I love learning alongside my boys.

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  5. Wow! What a great and fun learning experiencing. I didn't know the answer.

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    1. Thank you! I did know the answer ahead of time only because we've done a similar experiment before...

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  6. That makes sense, I've had a similar discussion with young caterers only about water and ice. Well done and keep listening to those survival shows, kiddo.

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    1. I'm always a bit amazed at WHERE my kids learn their information. My younger two have been teaching me all about dinosaurs from a video game they've played...

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  7. I love this! My Little Dude has been wanting to do some science experiments and this would be a great one!

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    1. I love simple science experiments! I'm starting to run out of them though...

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  8. Fun learning experience! Thanks for sharing..

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