Overwhelmed by the available chemistry resources? Looking for new chemistry teaching ideas? Elementary Articles is the place for chemistry, education, and everything else.

Elementary Articles is the official blog for the RSC's Learn Chemistry – your home for chemistry education resources and activities.

Ice Cool

As Sir Ranulph Fiennes prepares to lead the first team on foot across Antarctica during the southern winter, I look at the resources Learn Chemistry has to help teachers on the topic of ice and freezing.

  • This question sheet from Kitchen Chemistry looks at the structures of water and ice, the hydrogen bonding involved in making ice and why the structures of ice and diamond are similar.

 

  • This experiment encourages students to think about the process of freezing, possibly using molecular modelling kits. Fitting, considering Sir Ranulph and his team will have to cope with temperatures as low as -90 C!

 

  • As Sir Ranulph and his team cross the Antarctic, they will be helping scientists compile evidence information on climate change. This information sheet shows how ice core information is collected.

 

  • Of course, there was always the RSC competition on why hot water freezes faster than cold water - the Mpemba effect. This ancient quandry was open to the public for their ideas on why it occurs. Test the Mpemba effect yourself here.
Posted by Alexandra Kersting on Sep 17, 2012 5:58 PM Europe/London

Share this |

Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linked More...

Leave a comment?

You must be signed in to leave a comment on MyRSC blogs.

Register free for an account at http://my.rsc.org/registration.