Experiment: What Melts in the Sun?

In this episode, we learned that as the global temperature has continued to rise we have begun to experience more and more extreme weather conditions like more intense heat waves. This got us thinking about the concept of heat in general. This simple, kitchen science experiment invites you to practice your powers of observation as you think about what objects might melt in the sun.

MaTerials: muffin tin assortment of objects sunshine observation sheet

Wow-To:

1. Fill each section of the muffin tin with a different object (eg: ice cube, rock, penny, pat of butter, cube of cheese, marble, square of chocolate, crayon, etc.
2. Once the entire tray is full of objects place the tray in the sun for 10 minutes.
3. Observe what happens after 10 minutes? Fill in the chart below.