Make Ice Stalagmites Follow FizzicsEd 150 Science Experiments: Comments 2 You will need: Four bottles of very pure water, distilled water is best One bowl A freezer Lots of patience – this can be a difficult experiment to reproduce! Copyright Instruction Video Instruction 1 Take the labels off the bottles of water. Place the bottles in a freezer and leave undisturbed for at least 30 minutes. Check on the bottles regularly! As soon as it looks like a bottle is forming ice crystals, gently remove them from the freezer 2 Try carefully pouring the supercooled water into the bowl over an ice cube… you’ll form an ice stalagmite! Other things to try Shake one of the bottles and watch the ice crystals form instantly! Try stirring one of the bottles with a straw, or perhaps adding a piece of ice or dirt to the solution. 3 School science visits since 2004! – Curriculum-linked & award-winning incursions. – Over 40 primary & high school programs to choose from. – Designed by experienced educators. – Over 2 million students reached. – Face to face incursions & online programs available. – Early learning centre visits too! 4 Get the Unit of Work on States of Matter here! What are the different states of matter? How does heat affect the size of materials? How does liquid nitrogen affect materials and much more! Includes cross-curricular teaching ideas, student quizzes, a sample marking rubric, scope & sequences & more 5 Online courses for teachers & parents – Help students learn how science really works Why Does This Happen Ice generally forms on microscopic scratches and bumps called nucleation sites. Nucleation sites, or ‘bumps’, occur within most containers with imperfections – even dissolved impurities such as calcium or even air bubbles act as nucleation sites for ice to form. If you remove the nucleation sites from the water, the water cannot form ice crystals easily. Normally, pure water (without impurities) will form ice crystals at 0 degrees Celsius or lower. However if pure water is cooled down very slowly, in a very smooth container with no dust inside, you can make water stay a liquid at temperatures below zero. Supercooled solutions are very unstable. Introducing air bubbles or a seeding crystal into the solution causes the liquid water to rapidly freeze. Be aware that supercooling is different from freezing point depression. Freezing point depression occurs when you dissolve an ionic solid such as salt in water. A saltwater solution will have a lower freezing point than pure water – do the experiment and find out for yourself! Variables to test More on variables here Try salty vs freshwater. What happens if you rapidly heat up the super-cooled water in the bottle? Learn more! From the rock cycle to volcano formation, we’ve got your geology unit covered! Get in touch with FizzicsEd to find out how we can work with your class. Geology Rocks! Years 1 to 6 Maximum 30 students School workshop (NSW & VIC) 60 or 90 minutes Online Class Available Read More Enquire Now Geology Rocks! Years 1 to 6 Maximum 30 students School workshop (NSW & VIC) 60 or 90 minutes Online Class Available Read More Enquire Now STEM Full Day Accelerator - Primary Designed from real classroom experiences, this modular day helps you create consistently effective science learning that directly address the new curriculum with easily accessible and cost-effective materials. Read More Enquire Now Be Amazing! How to teach science, the way primary kids love. $29.95 inc. GST View Details Add to Cart Trustpilot
Take the labels off the bottles of water. Place the bottles in a freezer and leave undisturbed for at least 30 minutes. Check on the bottles regularly! As soon as it looks like a bottle is forming ice crystals, gently remove them from the freezer
Try carefully pouring the supercooled water into the bowl over an ice cube… you’ll form an ice stalagmite! Other things to try Shake one of the bottles and watch the ice crystals form instantly! Try stirring one of the bottles with a straw, or perhaps adding a piece of ice or dirt to the solution.
School science visits since 2004! – Curriculum-linked & award-winning incursions. – Over 40 primary & high school programs to choose from. – Designed by experienced educators. – Over 2 million students reached. – Face to face incursions & online programs available. – Early learning centre visits too!
Get the Unit of Work on States of Matter here! What are the different states of matter? How does heat affect the size of materials? How does liquid nitrogen affect materials and much more! Includes cross-curricular teaching ideas, student quizzes, a sample marking rubric, scope & sequences & more
From the rock cycle to volcano formation, we’ve got your geology unit covered! Get in touch with FizzicsEd to find out how we can work with your class.
Geology Rocks! Years 1 to 6 Maximum 30 students School workshop (NSW & VIC) 60 or 90 minutes Online Class Available Read More Enquire Now
Geology Rocks! Years 1 to 6 Maximum 30 students School workshop (NSW & VIC) 60 or 90 minutes Online Class Available Read More Enquire Now
STEM Full Day Accelerator - Primary Designed from real classroom experiences, this modular day helps you create consistently effective science learning that directly address the new curriculum with easily accessible and cost-effective materials. Read More Enquire Now
Designed from real classroom experiences, this modular day helps you create consistently effective science learning that directly address the new curriculum with easily accessible and cost-effective materials.
Be Amazing! How to teach science, the way primary kids love. $29.95 inc. GST View Details Add to Cart Trustpilot
What would be the easiest way to prepare for this experiment for a class setting, in advance to ensure it’s effective and works LOL Thanks! Reply
Hi Ashely, thanks for your question! The only real way to do this is to make many bottles well in advance. We’ve found 4 is enough if they are very clean prior. All the best! Reply
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