Essential Question: Why do snowflakes come in so many shapes and sizes?
Engage - Growing Snowflakes in a Bottle
Check out this “cool” video that comes from Science Friday on Kenneth Libbrecht, physicist at Caltech and author of The Secret Life of a Snowflake, as he shares an experiment he designed to grow snow crystals in a plastic bottle.
Explore - Grow your own Snowflakes
Now follow the engaging lesson below from Teacher’s Domain where you will build an apparatus that creates conditions similar to a winter cloud and produce your own snow crystals indoors. By watching the snow crystals grow, you can learn about the molecular forces that shape ice crystals, and gain a deeper understanding of the states of matter. By exploring the rich media resources, including microphotographs of real snowflakes, you can also learn about molecular forces, the particulate nature of matter, and condensation.
Interactive Multimedia Resources
Extend- Growing Ice Spikes
If you liked growing your own snow crystals, why not growing Ice Spikes also? Follow the link below to snowcrystals.com page outlining an experiment using an ice cube tray, distilled water and a freezer to create icicle like structures that appear on the free surface of water as it solidifies.
