Will it Freeze??

Genevieve HobanKellie FentonGroup 45

Introduction• Targeted at VELS level 3 students, this

experiment is intended to expand students knowledge and understanding of concepts related to matter. In particular the production of different states of matter through chemical change.

• Matter is anything that takes up space and it is made up of tiny particles. Matter can come in different states, or forms, such as solids, liquids, and gases.

VELS Level 3

• Students plan, design, conduct and report collaboratively on experiments related to their questions 

•Students classify a range of materials such as solids, liquids and gases according to observable properties.

• They identify forms of energy and energy transformations in the everyday world. They use appropriate scientific vocabulary to describe and explain their observations and investigations.

Purpose Introduce students to looking at the 3 states

of matter with a particular focus on liquids and solids.

Aims at a macroscopic level to encourage

students to explore what different materials are made up of and classified

and how these materials can be manipulated to change states.

By using the example of a liquid turning into a solid student are able to physically observe a change in the state of matter.

HypothesisWhen 7 different

liquids are left overnight in the freezer they will all freeze and

become solids.

• 40mls of Water• 40mls of methylated spirits• 40mls of Sunflower oil• 40mls of olive oil• 40mls of milk• 40mls of orange juice• 40mls of salt water • Ice Cube tray• Freezer• Paper• Marker pen & paper• Clock

Materials used

Method1. Predict what you think will happen to the

liquids after a night in the freezer. 2. Check and record the temperature your

freezer is set at. 3. In an ice cube tray, pour equal amounts of the

listed liquids into separate ice cube compartments .(Be sure to make a note of which compartment the liquid is in)

4. Place the ice cube tray into the freezer and observe every 15minutes for the first 2 hours, then leave overnight.

5. Record your results.

TimeMethylated

spirits Water Orange Juice Milk Salt WaterSunflower

Oil Olive Oil3:15pm 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

3:30pm 1 1 1 1 1 1 13:45pm 1 5 2 3 1 1 14:00pm 1 8 4 6 3 1 24:15pm 1 9 7 8 5 1 24:30pm 1 10 9 9 6 1 24:45pm 1 10 10 10 6 1 35:00pm 1 10 10 10 6 1 35:15pm 1 10 10 10 6 2 410 :00 am(left overnight) 1 10 10 10 10 2 10

Legend 1 - Liquid state

5 - Half Frozen state

10 -

Fully Frozen state

Table of Findings

LIQUID YES NOWATER

METHYLATED SPIRITS

OLIVE OIL

SUNFLOWER OIL

MILK

ORANGE JUICE

SALT WATER

DID IT FREEZE?

Discussion• The physical characteristics of solids: has a definite shape. Liquids take

the shape of whatever container they are in. We made our conclusions based on the physical shape of the liquid after the 24 hour block.

• The results indicate that 5 of the 7 liquids we tested made the transition from liquid to solid. The solidifying process is called freezing or solidification.

• Sunflower oil and Methylated spirits did not freeze, we discovered that this is because all liquids have a different freezing point.

• Methylated spirits and sunflower oil have a lower freezing point (-97.7 &-17 respectively) than our freezer (-15) which the test was conducted in. All of our other liquids have a freezing point of 0˚C down to -16˚C hence the reason they were able to freeze and the others 2 liquids weren’t.

• WE discovered that milk and orange juice must have approximately the same freezing point when transitioning from a liquid to solid.

Discussion cont…Limitations: We are unable to test out theory that all liquids

will freeze as we are unable to use a freezer that can reach low enough temperatures.

There were no real safety issues, except to monitor the methylated spirits in your classroom making sure it’s not

ingested.

To repeat this experiment we need to accurately measure the ratio of salt to water as this will most likely affect the

freezing point of our salt water solution.By removing the samples from the freezer every 15minutes

to check them, we may have interrupted the freezing process and this may have effected our results.

ConclusionThis experiment enabled us to see the changing states of matter.

Some liquids were able to change state into a solid through freezing.

This experiment demonstrated that not all liquids can become a solid by freezing, demonstrating that sometimes classifying substances by matter can be problematic.

Our data shows that matter can change it’s state through the input of energy. E.G – Liquids turning to solids through the input of freezing temperatures. However we concluded that all liquids appear to have a different freezing point and therefore this would affect the amount of energy required to make the matter change state.

Conclusion cont…

This experiment could be extended to test and assess other liquids and their freezing points.

You could also then reverse the process to explore the changing states of matter from solid to liquid or liquid to gases.

The class could explore if mass contributes to freezing point by changing the amount of liquid for freezing.

We worked as a group in completing this task. We both explored many types of experiments before deciding to investigate changing of matter. Both Kellie and Genevieve completed the experiment at home, and returned the next day with results to compare.

The presentation was compiled in tandem and because results and photo’s taken from each of us was very similar we simply included some of one and some of the others. Work load was shared and we both deserve even share in our mark.

• Ng, W. Primary Science, Chapter 4: Chemical Science, Latrobe University, Bundoora, 2009.

•Victorian Essential Learning Standards, last viewed 15/4/2009, www.vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au

• Changing states of Matter, Last Viewed 15/4/2009, http://www.brainpopjr.com/science/matter/changingstatesofmatter/grownups.weml