Scientific Method and States of Matter

Scientific Method and States of Matter

Here are three experimental questions to answer:

1.      Does hot water or cold water freeze faster?

a.       Hypothesis: I think that the hot water will freeze faster because hot water will bring in the cold air quicker.

2.      Does hot water or cold water boil faster?

a.       Hypothesis: I think that the hot water will boil faster because it will take more time for the cold water to heat up.

3.      Does salt water freeze faster or slower than regular water?

a.       Hypothesis: I think that the fresh water will freeze faster because salt is an added component which may take longer to freeze. 

The materials used:

1.      Hot and cold water freeze experiment: 2 plastic cups, water, and microwave.

2.      Hot and cold water boil experiment: 2 1 qt. pots, water, and microwave. 

3.      Salt and fresh water freeze experiment: 2 plastic cups, water, and salt.

The controlled variables:

1.      Hot and cold water freeze experiment: the amount of water, the type of cups, and the outside temperature.

2.      Hot and cold water boil experiment: they type of pots, the amount of water, and the temperature and size of the burner.

3.      Salt and fresh water freeze experiment: the amount of water, the type of cups, and the outside temperature.

Hot and cold water freeze experiment: I used two plastic cups and filled them up with a cup of water; I left one cold and put the other in the microwave to make it hot.  Then I set them outside with a temperature of -15.  I observed and recorded every 10 minutes. I repeated the experiment two more times.
The fresh water and salt water freeze experiment: I used two plastic cups and filled them up with a cup of water; I left one regular and a teaspoon of salt to the other.  Then I set them outside with a temperature of -15.  I observed and recorded every 10 minutes. I repeated the experiment two more times.

Trial 1	Cold fresh water	Hot water	Salt water
10 minutes	Clear and normal.  Not starting to freeze yet	Bubbles, steamy, foggy on top sides. Steaming, but not starting to freeze	More foggy, not starting to freeze. Starting to form thin ice on sides
20 minutes	Thin layer of ice starting to form	No ice yet	Not freezing yet
30 minutes	Thin layer formed all the way across. Ice forming on sides (with water) as well as top	No ice.  Very frosty on top without water	No ice
40 minutes	Getting pretty solid	Still no ice	Thin skin like forming on top
50 minutes	Pretty think on top	Ice on bubbles on the top, top of water has no ice on it.	Layer of ice across the whole top and forming on the sides
60 minutes	Ice about 2 mil think on top	Thin layer of ice starting on the top	Thin ice like a soft ice on top

 

This is a picture of the experiment shortly after I set up trial one, the two pictured are the hot and cold water. (cold on the left).

Trail 2	Cold fresh water	Hot water	Salt water
10 minutes	No ice yet	Steamy but no ice	The water is very unclear because of the salt
20 minutes	Very little ice is being to be visible on the top of the water.	No ice forming yet	Not freezing yet
30 minutes	The ice almost goes all the way across the top of the water.	Still no ice	No ice
40 minutes	There is ice on the sides of the water.	The top half of the cup with no water is very frosty but still no ice on the water.	Still no ice
50 minutes	The ice is starting to become solid on top.	Tiny bit of ice is beginning to form	There is a thin layer of ice forming across the top.
60 minutes	The ice is a little under 2 mil. Thick on top.	There is a very thin layer of ice on the top along the sides	Thin layer of soft ice all the way across the top.

 

This is a picture after 30 minutes during trial 2 showing that the cold water on the right has visible ice on top while the salt water on the left has no ice yet.

Trial 3	Cold fresh water	Hot water	Salt water
10 minutes	There is a little bit of ice starting to form on the side of the cup	Not freezing yet.	No ice
20 minutes	The top is not freezing yet	No ice yet	Not freezing yet
30 minutes	Thin layer is formed across the top of the water	No ice.  Very frosty on top without water	There is a tiny bit of ice starting to form on top.
40 minutes	Ice forming on sides (with water) as well as top	There is frost on the sides but no ice	The layer of ice looks like it goes all the way across
50 minutes	Getting more solid on top	I cannot see any ice yet.	The ice is also starting to form a little bit on the sides
60 minutes	About a quarter of an inch thick of water	Very thin layer of ice starting on the top.	The ice on top is no hard, it is mushy

This is a picture after trial 3 showing how thick the ice was on top of the cold water after 60 minutes.

Hot and cold water boil experiment: I used 2 one qt. pots and poured 1 cup of water into each of them.  One with cold water and the other with hot water (I microwaved it).  I set them both on the oven with both burners set to med-high.  I observed and recorded every minute until the water was fully boiling.  I then repeated the experiment 2 more times.

Trail 1	One cup cold water		One cup hot water
1 min.	Water is still and unchanged	1 min.	Steaming quite a bit
2 min.	Small Bubbles fill the bottom	2 min.	Tiny bubbles starting to surface
3 min.	Tiny bubbles starting to rise to top	3 min.	Big bubbles starting to come up
4 min.	Bigger bubbles coming to top and fast	4 min.	Starting to come up faster
5 min.	Full on boiling	5 min.	Full on boiling

Trail 2	One cup cold water		One cup hot water
1 min.	Small Bubbles are starting to fill the bottom	1 min.	Steaming and tiny bubbles are starting to fill the bottom
2 min.	Starting to slightly steam	2 min.	Tiny bubbles starting to surface
3 min.	Tiny bubbles starting to rise to top	3 min.	Bigger bubbles are surfacing
4 min.	Bigger bubbles coming to top and faster	4 min.	Full on boiling
5 min.	Full on boiling	5 min.	Still boiling

Trail 3	One cup cold water		One cup hot water
1 min.	Slightly starting to steam	1 min.	steaming
2 min.	Small Bubbles begin to fill the bottom	2 min.	The bubbles are surfacing
3 min.	The small bubbles slowly begin to rise.	3 min.	The bubbles are getting bigger and coming up faster
4 min.	The bubbles are becoming bigger are rising faster.	4 min.	Just about to be a full on boil
5 min.	Almost full on boiling	5 min.	Full on boiling
6 min.	Full on boiling	6 min.	Still boiling

Theory:

1.      Cold water freezes faster than hot water.

2.      Regular water freezes faster than saltwater.

3.      Hot water boils faster than cold water.

Image of the atoms that make up water molecules.

Video or animation that shows how water molecules are arranged in the three states of matter for water.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v12xG80KcZw

Describe the scientific method/process and how each step correlates to your own experiments.
Using PHEOC, the first thing is always to have a question/problem, once you have the problem you can go on to make a hypothesis which is an explanation made based on little evidence as a starting point for further observations.  One the hypothesis is make the experiment can be done; the experiment includes setting up the experiment, and proceeding with it.  It is important to keep all the variables the same besides the one that is being tested. When the experiment is being done it is important to observe; record the data and then analyze it.  The last step is to make the conclusion; the conclusion is the answer to the question based on the data that you found.  While using the scientific method you may find that our hypothesis is constantly changing and the experiment is changing in order to support the hypothesis’s idea.

Talk about the repeatability of experiment?  What are the average values?

The more that the experiment is repeated the more accurate the data is.  It is important to make an experiment so that it can easily be repeated many times.  The average values are all of the data added up and then divided in order to find the correct value. 

Write a three paragraph statement about your experiment and connections to a real-world application.

A physical property is a property of a substance that can be observed without changing the substance.  For example freezing and boiling are physical properties because they are changing but they can still change back, they did not change substances.  The three different states of matter are solid, liquid, and gas.  A solid has a definite shape and volume, such as a chair, a liquid has a definite volume but not a definite shape, such as water.  And a gas has neither definite volume nor definite shape, such as oxygen.  Heat is energy that is transferred from hotter objects to cooler objects and temperature is the average kinetic energy of an object.  An example of heat would be when you put a pot of water on the hot burner and it creates the pot and water to become hot as well.

In my first experiment with the hot and cold water freezing, I used two plastic cups and filled them up with a cup of water; I left one cold and put the other in the microwave to make it hot.  Then I set them outside with a temperature of -15.   I thought that the hot water would freeze faster, but in all three of my experiments the cold water froze faster. In my second experiment, the salt and fresh water freezing, I used two plastic cups and filled them up with a cup of water; I left one regular and a teaspoon of salt to the other.  Then I set them outside with a temperature of -15.  I observed and recorded every 10 minutes. My data showed that the fresh water froze faster and more solid every time.  In conclusion, fresh water freezes faster.  In my last experiment, boiling hot water and cold water, I used 2 one qt. pots and poured 1 cup of water into each of them.  One with cold water and the other with hot water (I microwaved it).  I set them both on the oven with both burners set to med-high.  I observed and recorded every minute until the water was fully boiling.  My data showed that the hot water boiled faster every time.  In conclusion hot water boils faster than cold water.

In my results I found that water freezes slower with ice.  This can be helpful in real life when we see salt being put on the road during the winter time.  The salt lowers the freezing/melting point of water.  This happens because the salt dissolves into the water in the ice in order to lower the freezing point.