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    Home » Science Experiments for Kids » Chemistry » Moving wire though ice

    Moving wire though ice

    November 30, 2011 By Emma Vanstone 10 Comments

    Welcome to day 3 of ‘ice science week‘, so far we have made frost, and looked at freezing.

    Today we are going to try a cool science trick where you can make wire move through ice. Ice usually needs to be warmed up to melt, but you can also make it melt by adding pressure to it.

    You’ll need:

    Thin wire, we used fishing rod wire.

    A block of ice

    1 or 2 weights.

    How to move a wire through ice

    Basically, you need to place the wire over the ice and add weights to it, so the weights pull the wire down on the ice.

    We didn’t have any weights, so we suspended the ice above a bench and used a heavy griddle pan as a weight.

    We added a little bit of salt over the wire, to speed up the melting process.

    You can see here how the wire has melted into the ice, I am suspending the ice in the air by holding the wire

    A much neater way to demonstrate this would be to use a smaller piece of ice and place on the top of a bottle and place wire with a small weight on either side over the top. 

    I quite like my makeshift version, though.

    Why does this work?

    When water freezes, it expands, as the molecules arrange themselves in a very ordered arrangement which takes up more space than when the molecules are free.

    The wire adds pressure to the ice under it, which melts the ice a little bit, when the wire moves down, the water on the top refreezes, this continues as the wire moves through the ice.

    Last Updated on February 17, 2023 by Emma Vanstone

    « Ice Experiments – Making Frost
    Freezing and melting ice cubes »

    Safety Notice

    Science Sparks ( Wild Sparks Enterprises Ltd ) are not liable for the actions of activity of any person who uses the information in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources. Science Sparks assume no liability with regard to injuries or damage to property that may occur as a result of using the information and carrying out the practical activities contained in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources.

    These activities are designed to be carried out by children working with a parent, guardian or other appropriate adult. The adult involved is fully responsible for ensuring that the activities are carried out safely.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Shiloh

      December 01, 2011 at 6:23 pm

      That is a very very cool experiment. Ice just has so many interesting properties. I want to do this with my kids.:)

      Reply
      • ScienceSparks

        December 02, 2011 at 2:40 pm

        Let us know how you get on! x

        Reply
    2. maggy,red ted art

      December 01, 2011 at 8:17 pm

      Wow! A whole week of ice play. What great fun!!! Love all the different experiments to date…

      Thank you for sharing on Kids Get Crafty!

      Maggy

      Reply
      • ScienceSparks

        December 02, 2011 at 2:40 pm

        So glad you like them! Thanks Maggy!

        Reply

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