We are all fond of ice and snow. Come winters, and we look forward to a visit to snowy mountains. Do you want to make an ice mountain at home? You don’t take out the entire mountain from the freezer. Just a few ingredients, a little patience and you get an ice tower. So let us see what we need for this instant ice experiment.
What we need
Plastic bottle
Ice cubes
Wide-mouthed bowl
Water
Large tray
Procedure
- Fill water in the plastic bottle. Make sure to use water without impurities as it will affect the result of our experiment.
- Refrigerate the filled bottle. Let it remain in the freezer for almost 3 hours.
- Keep checking the bottle after two hours, to see whether the water has frozen. Our aim is to get water that is close to freezing, but not frozen water.
- When you see that ice flakes are forming inside the bottle, it is time to take it out. Be very slow and careful. A sudden jolt to the bottle will result in the entire water freezing instantly.
- Keep the bowl inside the tray. Spread some ice cubes in the bowl.
- Open the bottle and carefully pour the water over the ice cubes. We can see an ice tower forming over the ice cubes. The tray will catch any water that spills over.
Tip: If you don’t get the tower, it means that your water is not cool enough. Refrigerate it for a few more minutes and try again.
Explanation
What we saw in this instant ice experiment can be explained with the help of physics principles. We poured supercool water over ice cubes, and saw the water transforming into ice. As we all know, water freezes when cooled for sufficient time. 0o Celsius is the freezing point of clear water. This process of freezing begins with nucleation.
Nucleation refers to the process by which molecules in a liquid gather into tiny crystals, which will result in the formation of a solid structure. If there is any dust or other solid particle in the water, it acts as a nucleation site. This means that water molecules will start to crystallize around the particle.
In our experiment, we have filled clear water inside the bottle. So there is no scope for a nucleation site inside the bottle. Even without this, the water will ultimately freeze. But we are taking out the bottle from the freezer just before this happens. When we pour this supercool water over the ice cubes, the cubes act as the nucleation site for the ice to form. And we get an ice tower over the already formed ice cubes.
Will the result of this experiment be different if we use colored water instead of plain water? That is for you to find out.
Now you have learned how to make an ice tower. Do you wish to know more about formation of crystals? Try out this interesting Growing crystals project, and learn many ways in which you can make colorful crystals.
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