fairfolio
Saved Projects

Ice Killer: CO2's Effect on Solid H2O

CSEF · 2018 Earth & Atmospheric Sciences (Junior Division Only) Second Award

Natalia N.Q. Marshall · James Lick Middles School, , San Francisco County

Overview

Objectives/Goals The objective of this experiment was to determine if blocks of ice exposed to air with increasing levels of carbon dioxide will melt faster than a block of ice exposed to air with an average level of carbon dioxide without air temperature being a factor. Methods/Materials A block of ice, a container and press and seal wrap, balloons with air from lungs, car exhaust, and pure CO2. I collected gas of various CO2 concentrations in balloons and emptied the balloons into a sealed container with a block of ice. I measured the rate of ice melting over the next 24 hours. Results In the experiments I ran blocks of ice exposed to pure CO2 melted 24 minutes quicker than the block of ice exposed to normal air. This was in spite of the fact that normal air block of ice 388.681 cm3 larger than CO2 block of ice. Conclusions/Discussion Blocks of ice exposed to air with increased levels of CO2 melted faster than the block of ice in a normal air environment.This is likely due to the weakening of the structure of the ice crystals caused by CO2 interfering with the hydrogen bonding of the water molecules.In the environment filled with pure CO2 the block of ice melted 24 minutes quicker even though it was larger by 388.681 cm3 than the normal environment block of ice.At the 2 hour mark, the CO2 environment block of ice was 30.9% melted while the block of ice in the normal air environment was 13.3% melted. At the 22 hours mark, the block of ice in the CO2 environment was 94.1% melted while the block of ice in the normal air environment was 92.6% melted.

Summary statement

As measured by the increased melting rate of blocks of ice, ice exposed to air with increased levels of carbon dioxide melted faster than a block of ice exposed to normal air.

Help received

I designed the experimental procedure and collected the data myself, but I need help from my father purchasing the materials, collecting car exhaust, and sawing the blocks of ice.

Awards (1)

Competition history

  • CSEF 2018 Earth & Atmospheric Sciences (Junior Division Only) · Entry J0905

Resources

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

Source: California Science & Engineering Fair public projects

Save projects to your library

Sign in with Google to keep track of projects you find interesting, organized into folders. An account also raises your daily allowance for “Has this been done?”, and lets you create a key for the MCP server with a much higher limit than anonymous use. Browsing stays public.

Continue with Google