Science You Can Taste: Exploring States of Matter!

Our young scientists have been busy investigating the "coolest" part of our States of Matter topic this week! We took our learning out of the textbook and put it into practice to see exactly how temperature can change the world around us.

The Great Meltdown

We began by investigating melting points. We set up an experiment to see how quickly butter, ice, and chocolate would change from a solid to a liquid. The children used thermometers to observe the temperatures, sparking some great discussions about why some solids need more heat than others to lose their shape.

DIY Ice Cream

To put our knowledge of "freezing and melting" to the test, we decided to make our own ice cream using chocolate milk! However, we had a challenge: we had to turn our liquid milk into a solid without using a freezer!

The Method: We placed chocolate milk into a small sealed bag, then tucked it inside a larger bag filled with ice and a generous amount of salt.

The Science: We learnt that salt lowers the freezing point of ice, making it much colder than a standard ice cube!

The Hard Work: Wearing gloves to protect our hands from the freezing temperatures, we gently rubbed and massaged the bags to transfer the cold energy.

The Result?

After plenty of shivering and shaking, the liquid milk transformed into thick, creamy ice cream. The children were thrilled with the results, and after the first bite, they all agreed it was "absolutely delicious!" Science has never tasted so good!