Melting
Icebergs
The investigation posed the question about what will
happen if the polar ice caps melt. The
procedure was for us to put ice in a cup and then fill the cup to the brim with
water and observe what would happen. I
hypothesized that the cup would overflow and therefore I added the step to
place my cup in a larger bowl to catch the spill.
During the investigation, I began by freezing a cup
of water. I marked the level on the cup
in order to determine if water contracts or expands when freezing. I noted that the water did expand when
frozen. This made me more curious about
what would happen during the next step.
I put the block of ice in a bowl and filled the rest of the bowl to the
brim with water. Unfortunately, I had an
uncontrolled variable, my daughter, who was also curious about the
investigation and bumped the bowl so the water spilled over. Therefore, I repeated the procedure two more
times to observe what would happen. In
each of the next two trials, none of the water overflowed.
Therefore, my conclusion would be that if the polar
ice caps melted they would not affect sea level. The polar ice caps are already
in the water and therefore are already displacing the water. When they melt, they would continue to take
the space that they already occupy.
This investigation led me to ponder that our
concerns about global warming effects on the polar ice caps are unfounded. However, I began to wonder about the glaciers
that are one land and the ice caps on mountains. These ice formations are not currently in the
water, therefore I believe if they melted they would add to the volume of the
water and increase sea level. I could
compare this idea to our investigation; for example, if the cup was already
filled to the brim with water and I attempted to place ice in the cup, then it
would overflow.
So glad to know that someone else did not have water overflow. I was expecting the water to come over the top of the glass, but it never did. I was planning to redo the experiment this week just to ensure that the first two times were accurate. Thanks for posting! Vanette
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty, I was nervous to put my results on my blog. They were not what I expected at all and I felt like one of my students who are always worried that they have the wrong answer. I often stress to them that even when we have the incorrect answer, it provides a learning opportunity. In science, it is often the need to retest or to realize the importance of controlling all variables except for the one that we are testing.
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right, when water freeze its volume expand and when ice melt the volume decrease. The results of your inquiry perfectly refer to the statement. The density of water is lower than the density of ice because of the volume that expands when freezing, and the density of water is higher because of the lower volume.
ReplyDeleteThe principle of Archimedes mass object is equal to mass displaced water.
The ice mountain and the glaciers on land will melt by higher temperature, and when this fall in the sea or land means we are getting more water, which refers to higher sea levels. I think there is also a possibility of flooding because we have overall more water than land.
I think we need to feel free to share our ideas and discuss issues with each other on the blogs. This is how we learn and develop our professional skills of science. Sharing our ideas, results of inquiries will help us to get a deeper understanding of science concepts, definitions, content and also the process. In one of the video’s of our course, I learned that scientist do not have all answers they are seeking for answers.