Cold temperatures and freezing water can play lots of nasty tricks. Have your kids ever wondered why sidewalks crack in the winter, or why that glass soda bottle you left in the garage exploded on a cold winter night? Freezing water expands as it changes from water to ice. Try this frozen liquid experiment to see just how much change happens. Be safe! No one wants to clean out a freezer full of exploded soda!
What You Need:
- empty plastic soda bottle with a cap
- water
- a freezer or a cold winter night
What You Do:
- Fill the bottle up with water. Leave no air in the bottle.
- Screw the lid on tight.
- Put the bottle in the freezer or outdoors (if it is below freezing) overnight.
- In the morning, your water bottle should be bulging on the sides.
Why it works
The expanded water had no where to go with the lid on tight so it pushed out the sides of the bottle. The next time you see a cracked sidewalk or a pothole in the spring, your kids will understand that the water that seeped into the cement or the road cracks expanded so forcefully when it froze over the winter that it cracked the cement or crumpled the asphalt!
