Beyond Science Unit 6 Day 3

[Tracee]

I'm having a little difficulty wrapping my head around this experiment. We live in Florida. Right now, my windows are open and it's in the mid 70's in our home. My son and I are getting confused. I understand the concept, that we are protecting the ice from the outside air, but it's confusing us. DS predicted right away that the one in the wool would stay protected, but when he starts to talk it out and relate it to the lesson, he gets confused, because we are talking about staying warm and keeping warm, not about keeping something cold, and if we can't really protect ourselves from the outside air here by putting on something warm. Am I making any sense at all? I don't think I'm explaining it right. How did you best explain this?


Thanks,
Tracy

[Tracee]

Ok, I made more of it than I needed to. When the experiment was over, ds prediction was correct. He was happy he was right, so I just said wool or warm clothing protects us from the cold. He agreed and off he went. LOL



Tracy

[MelInKansas]

This one for us didn't work out like it was "supposed" to. The wool must have started out warmer, and retained its heat, so it melted the ice faster. We also had to wait 30 minutes instead of 15 to see a noticable difference (I guess I could have weighed them, that would've been more scientific).

The basic concept is thermodynamics - insulation. If there is insulation then the heat won't get to the ice and melt it as quickly. So talk about things like coats and stuff... at least that's what I did.

[Robbi]

This one stumped me too. Here is my post about it.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10544