It’s a lot of fun playing in the snow during winter months! Snow is a great way to learn about states of matter: liquid, solids and gas. The things that take up space in our world is matter. This project allows you the fun of building a snowman and then experimenting on how the snow can be changed between the different states!
Materials
- Snow accumulation
- Gloves and other outside winter playwear
- Glass (or other microwaveable) baking dish
- Microwave
- Masking tape
- Hot pads or oven mitts
- Adult supervision
Instructions
- Build a small snowman with the snow outside in your yard. Since it needs to go in your microwave, make sure it’s not too big. The snowman at this time is solid.
- Place the snowman in the microwavable dish and bring it inside.
- With the help of your grown-up, put the dish with the snowman in the microwave and turn it on for about a minute. The snow will melt into water, making it liquid.
- Once the snow has fully melted, use oven mitts and your grown up’s help to carefully take the dish out of the microwave. When it’s cool enough to be safe to do so, use a piece of masking tape to mark the water line.
- Carefully place the dish back in the microwave and turn it on again for 3-4 minutes. After some time, the water should start to boil and steam should rise from the dish. The heat and the water create water vapor, which is the matter gas.
- Let the dish cool and take it out one more time. (Remember to use mitts and your grown-up’s help!) Can you see if the water is now below the tape? The heat caused some of the water to evaporate!
Tip: Some winters have less snow days than others. You can do this same experiment with ice!
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