Impromptu Science Experiment

The day after our Batman Party, Jr. was asking about "Mr. Freeze's Iced Cubes."  I don't remember exactly what happened.  We must have been talking about what happens to the ice cubes when they melt.  All of a sudden, we were sending an ice cube into the microwave in a little bowl.  I think it was Jr.'s idea.

 It melted.

We had talked before about states of matter.  Solids, liquids, and gases.  We'd frozen ice cubes before, but this time we kind of really got going.

We melted another ice cube, this time on a plate.

This time there was still a tiny bit left to the ice cube when it came out of the microwave.

Which gave me an idea.  What if we put an ice cube in a pot on the stove?  That way, Jr. can actually watch it melt (it's harder to watch it in the microwave).  

In the pot we had a point where we were able to get all three states- solid, liquid, gas- at the same time.  After the ice cube melted completely and a lot of the steam had escaped into the air, we poured what was left of the water back into the ice cube tray.  It was half as much water as when we originally filled the ice cube tray a few days before.

Jr. wanted to try it again in the microwave, so we did with a couple more differently sized bowls, all the time talking about changing the states of matter. 

 

I love Jr.'s surprised look.  As if he hasn't already seen this several times.

I love these moments.  These spontaneous activities I am able to do with my children, all because of a little conversation we get into.