Melting Points

• When you leave an ice cube out, it starts to melt almost immediately. You can conduct a science project to find out why this happens, and to learn ways that you can alter this process. Ice melts because the point at which it melts is 33 degrees Fahrenheit, and your kitchen is probably much warmer than that. Increasing the temperature or crushing the ice will make it melt faster. Find out why.
  
  

Rock Salt

• People who live in snowy parts of the world are familiar with the use of rock salt to melt ice on roads or paths. There are many different types of salt, NaCl (Sodium Chloride) being one of the most familiar. Test different types of salt to find out which types melt ice faster. Salt works because it raises the melting point of ice. Find out how different types of salt affect this melting point.
  
  

Kitchen Science

• Melting foods is an essential part of cooking, especially when you work with cheese or butter. Cheese acts and tastes different than ice. Cheese also tastes different when it is melted on something than when it is still solid. When you melt butter and cook another food in it, that food takes on the flavor of the butter. There are chemical reactions going on inside the cheese and butter, which you can explore and explain.
  
  

Movie Glass

• In films, people are often thrown or punched through a piece of glass. Behind the scenes, this is very rarely an actual piece of glass. Often, it is actually edible because it is made out of sugar. To make this movie prop, you have to melt down the sugar crystals and a few other ingredients. Find a recipe, try making a sugar window, and then compare your melted sugar glass to the real thing (without breaking the real thing, which is dangerous).
  
  

Polar Ice Caps

• A number of scientific studies performed at the North Pole have determined that the polar ice caps are melting. While you may not be able to make it up there to observe this phenomenon yourself, a lot of people have ideas about what is going on behind this change. Many scientists believe a man-made global climate change is taking place, while another group believes that it is a natural shift. As a scientist, take a few minutes to look at the data (not the arguments) and draw your own conclusions.