Melting Icebergs Experiment

 

Images from personal trip to Alaska May 28 - June 4 2008

Hypothesis 

a. What will happen when the ice melts?

As the ice melts water will be displaced causing a slight overflow in the bowl. The ice will stay together because of the law of attraction. 

Experiment Start Time: 12:30pm on 7/10/12

OBSERVATIONS:

Ice begins as one mass of seemingly semi-attached ice cubes.

As water is added, some ice immediately float to the top of the water. The ice that floats freely float to the top first. The ice cubes that were initially stuck together while freezing stay at the bottom longer.

Eventually all ice cubes float to the top. Initially the ice cubes float separately from each other. The ice cubes slowly begin to merge toward each other as if they are attracted to each other.

The ices cubes release small air bubbles as they melt. The cubes that are floating unattached to other cubes melt faster and stay closer to the top of the water. The cubes that are attached to other cubes have larger portions sinking under the water with only a portion of the attached cube floating above the water.

As the water melts, there does not appear to be any water displacement.

Even with no movement of the water the ice moves toward one area of the bowl. As they move, the water moves slightly but only directly where the ice cubes are located.

18 minutes into the experiment and there are few pieces of ice remaining and there still does not appear to be any water displacement.

12:52 pm all ice cubes have melted. There does not appear to be visible water displacement. There is water on the outside of the bowl that has made it to the base of the bowl from the top.

Reflection 

a. As the ice melts, does the water overflow? Explain.

As the ice melts, the water does not overflow as I initially thought. I quickly remembered that I began the experiment with ice already formed at the basin (the bottom of the glass bowl) prior to adding water to the environment. The mass of the ice is already accounted for with the mass of the water added, and therefore the melted water just replaces the mass of the solid water (or something like that). Therefore there was no true water displacement, thereby causing the bowl of water to not overflow.