Melting Point Experiment
Objective:
Discover that different substances melt at different temperatures.
Materials:
An ice cube, a pat of butter, and a penny
Vocabulary
Temperature: Temperature is a measure of how hot or cold something is. The hotter the object, the higher temperature. The colder the object, the lower the temperature.
Melt: Turn from solid to liquid.
Melting Point: The temperature that melts a solid into a liquid.
Procedure:
- Review the definitions of melt, melting point, and temperature in the ‘Vocabulary’ section above.
- Set an ice cube, a pat of butter, and a metal penny or any other metal coin on a plate. Put the plate in the refrigerator overnight.
- Hypothesize (guess/predict) what you think will happen to each item. Observe the results the next day. Were your hypotheses correct?
- Next, hold a penny in one hand and a small piece of butter in the other. Hold your hand over a sink to avoid making a mess.
- Hypothesize what you think will happen to each item. Observe the results in a couple of minutes. Were your hypotheses correct?
Results:
- What happened to the ice cube, butter, and penny in the refrigerator?
- What happened to the butter and penny in your hands?
- Why did the solid ice cube turn into liquid in the refrigerator?
- Why didn’t the solid butter and solid penny turn into liquid in the refrigerator?
- Why did the solid butter turn into liquid in your hand?
- Why didn’t the solid penny turn into liquid in your hand?
- What would you need to do to melt the penny?
Answers to the questions: Highlight the text below to see the answer key.
- What happened to the ice cube, butter, and penny in the refrigerator? (The ice cube melted into liquid. The butter and penny remained solid.)
- What happened to the butter and penny in your hands? (The butter melted into liquid. The penny remained solid.)
- Why did the solid ice cube turn into liquid in the refrigerator? (The refrigerator was warmer than water’s melting point.)
- Why didn’t the solid butter and solid penny turn into liquid in the refrigerator? (The refrigerator was colder than the butter and penny’s melting points.)
- Why did the solid butter turn into liquid in your hand? (Your hand was warmer than the butter’s melting point.)
- Why didn’t the solid penny turn into liquid in your hand? (Your hand was cooler than the penny’s melting point.)
- What would you need to do to melt the penny? (Raise the penny’s temperature until it melts.)
End of the Answer key
Conclusion:
This experiment showed that different things melt at different temperatures. The ice melted in the cold fridge. The butter melted in your warm hand. The penny melts at an even higher temperature. For instance, pennies can be melted with the flame from a propane torch. Iron has an even higher melting point than pennies. Iron must be heated to even higher temperatures than pennies before melting.
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