popsicle melt and water balloon experiments

Keep it Cool!Being outside all day in the summer, at the beach, is fun, however, it is also HOT! Wouldn't a frozen popsicle be wonderfully refreshing? The problem you face is that you do not have a cooler in which to store your popsicle and the freezer at your beach house is just too far away to walk to for the refreshing treat.

Groups will design a container that will keep a popsicle frozen when it is exposed to the outside sun for a minimum of 60 minutes.

Investigate :10• Students will work at table groups. • Groups should look over the available

materials.• Determine the properties of each of the

materials.

Plan a Design :15• Groups will collaborate and create drawings of

their best design options• You may take parts of everyone's ideas to

create one or two designs.

Build :20

• Work as a team to build your Popsicle Keeper.

• Try to follow your plan, but it is ok to diverge!

Don’t Make a Splash!Water balloons can be a lot of fun to play with outside in the summer heat. However, if they drop before they are supposed to, they break and spoil the fun. Your challenge is to design a device out of straws and masking tape that will keep a single water balloon from breaking when dropped from a fixed height .

Groups will design a device to protect a water balloon.

Investigate :05• Students will work at table groups. • Each group will be provided with a bag of 30

straws and 1.3 meters of 1" masking tape.• Each team will also be given two water

balloons. The final design will be placed in a zipper type sandwich bag.

Brainstorm :10

You will build an apparatus to keep the water balloon intact when it is dropped.

Brainstorm ideas for your balloon keeper. • Brainstorm ideas, explore at least 10 total

ideas.• Discuss as a group.

Plan a Design :10• Groups will collaborate and create drawings of

their best design options• You may take parts of everyone's ideas to

create one or two designs.

Build :15

• Work as a team to build your Balloon Keeper.

• Try to follow your plan, but it is ok to diverge!

Test :20

• Team balloons will be dropped to determine the effectiveness of the Balloon Keeper.