Little Scientist - 3: Ice, Ice, Baby!


As a huge Calvin and Hobbes fan, I’ve absolutely loved this strip:
The idea, the drawings, the choice of words… it’s what they call perfection.

As a parent, on the other hand, I’ve shuddered at the prospect of my daughter being that way. And then, I got a chance to do exactly that comparison! She’s 6 now, the same as Calvin. And the incident in question too involved ice melting!

Recently, she was doing this experiment described in one of those S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) kits involving 3 ice cubes. (You know what they say about catching them young, right?) Anyway, here’s the experiment: you leave the first ice cube as-is; on the second one, you put salt; and on the last one, you put sugar. And then she sat back to observe: which one melts the fastest?
(You may think this is as interesting as watching grass grow, but you can make a kid interested in anything by throwing in the words “race”, “first” and “winner”!)

Outcome: the one with salt on it melts the fastest. I asked her what she thought they used in cold countries to melt the snow? “Obviously salt”, she responded, as if she’d known this all her life. Good, I thought, you just moved from theory to application. From “S” to “E” in S.T.E.M. Paisa vasool.

I then added that when snowfall can be predicted, they even put salt on the roads before it snows. That makes sense, she said. And then she got a wicked look on her face. “Wouldn’t it be so much fun if they mixed up their salt and sugar and poured sugar on the roads?”, she said.

Joke all you want, kid, but I still consider it a win. After all, you did beat Calvin hollow when it came to learning stuff in an apples to apples ice to ice comparison.


Comments

  1. Ramiah KumarApril 25, 2018 at 11:58 AM

    Another interesting young scientist episode! For us, it is more sweet and more or less no salt! :-)

    We eagerly await the next episode. Long live science and budding child scientists. Who knows which child has the curious mind that Einstein had or the exploring mind that Faraday had. But that's not our prime interest - what is important is to read parents' blogs on budding scientists. They are always fascinating!

    ReplyDelete

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