Presentation+outline

To make this experiment more enjoyable for a grade 9 applied class, I would have to focus less on the production of my very cold isopropyl alcohol, and more on its effects on other objects. I freeze many objects that are subject to freezing and would show unique properties once frozen. For example, I might decide to freeze a flower so I could be able to shatter it to prove it was frozen, or a piece of cloth that could then be broken. I could also freeze a super ball to show how it would no longer bounce when frozen. It would be possible to freeze an elastic in its stretched state, and when it solidified and whatever was holding it in place was removed, it would retain that shape.

The science I would discuss with the grade 9 applied class would be the melting point of isopropyl alcohol, and the way thermal contact affects the speed at which the change in temperature of the substances occurs. These are the most important scientific properties of this experiment, and are also the easiest to explain. I would try to simply explain how a greater surface area would give the particles in a substance more room to collide and transfer energy. I would also explain that the carbons that are present in isopropyl alcohol make it so the bonds are easier to pull apart, and are therefore pulled apart at a lower temperature, into a liquid. In the opposite way this means the alcohol must be much colder than water to freeze and have the bonds pull the molecules closer together into a solid.