We designed a simple setup that you might want to try as a second baseline for yourself. We placed an ice cube in a plastic cup to see how long it would take to melt. We did not place a cover on the cup.
Here are a few photographs taken over a time span of two and a half hours. Note that the temperature of the air was still 23ºC (73ºF). We placed a piece of blue paper in the bottom of the cup so that you could see the ice cube easier in the photographs.
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After one hour
and 30 minutes |
After two hours |
After two hours
and 30 minutes |
The ice cube in the plastic cup took more time to melt than the ice cube in the open air. Why is this? One explanation is that the cold air in the cup was denser than the warmer air outside the cup. This means that the cold air tended to stay down inside the cup. It did not circulate or form convection currents. Thus there was not a significant amount of air moving past the surface of the ice cube in the cup, which would reduce the amount of heat transferred by convection.
We encourage you to try this as well as other variations, such as using a cup made from another material, for comparison. Be sure to check that the room temperature is the same for all investigations. What can you learn from the results? Perhaps this will give you some ideas about designing your own environment prototype.
Good luck! If you have some particularly good results, send them to us. We would like to see photographs of your designs and learn how long it took for your ice to melt. |
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