Essay

Ice <=> Water

Ice melts into water and water freeze into ice. The two phrases of the phase change between liquid and solid is called “melting” and “freezing”. Transformation between these two forms of subject is to be researched. Therefore, I have done two experiments with the transformation of ice form into fluid. First, a normal ice cube of 1”x1” melting into water. Second, an ice cube of the same size with salt sprinkled on top. The way the two ice cubes transform is to be inspected.

In the first experiment, an ice cube of 1”x1” is set on top of an ice cream bag left to melt at a room temperature over 30°c. In every 30 seconds, its photo is taken. The transparent ice melts slowly according to its surface area. The melted ice became water running down onto the ice cream bag. Incidentally, ice cream bag which keep things cool might have an effect on the melting rate of the ice cube. The appearance of water when flowing down isn’t like water drop but it looks more like a transparent liquid covering the cube. This means that water runs down from every pixel of ice cube constantly instead of from a single spot. Furthermore, ice mostly melts at the top instead of at the bottom. This shows how air contains more heat than the water at the bottom. When melting, the eight corners become a lot duller so it makes the cube seem more round. After melting, water rest on the ice cream bag where it might help in keeping ice cube temperature at the bottom.

In the second experiment, an ice cube slightly smaller than 1”x1” is placed on top of a transparent plastic which is on top of a white paper. The temperature is still over 30°c which is at room temperature. This time, video of the process is recorded on instead of taking picture every half a minute. After setting the ice cube on top and have a pack of salt sprinkled at the top like a mountain, I started to record the transformation. Because the melting rate later became slow, I put in additional salt in the latter part of the experiment. The result was the same as I had expected. The center of the ice is a cavity. This is because the mixture of salt and water needs a lower cooling point, in other word; it has to be colder to freeze. As a result, it ended up that there is a hole like a basket in the middle of the ice before the rest melts. It is as if there are two parts of transformation. The first is when the ice convert into a basket and the second is when the basket totally melts into water.

Comparing the two transformations with one another, I think that the second experiment is a lot more interesting as there is an effect of concavity due to the different rate to melt. Anyhow, an ice cube laid in a room temperature of above 30°c would take approximately 30 minutes to melt. There are many things we can play with the transformation between ice and water like putting a transparent figure in a cube. Freeze it with water. After it became solid, melt it. Imagine how fabulous it would be when everything around the figure melts leaving a transparent, ice-like form behind. Another idea is to melt ice into hot water. The process would be extremely fast as hot water melt ice faster. Layers, color, can be played with when considering the topic of transformation between water and ice.