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Frozen Laundry Race

There are three factors at play when it comes to drying clothes outside at any time of year – heat, humidity, and time.

In winter, you have less heat, so you need to optimize the other two factors. You'll need more time, but cold winter air holds less humidity. The liquid water evaporate out of your clothes and into the atmosphere, since substances naturally go from areas of high concentration (your clothes) to low concentration (the air). If there is a wind, this process is optimized by the flow of air , carrying off the humidity produced when the water in your clothes evaporates.

If it’s dry and cold outside, you might get freeze-dried clothes. What you think is frozen might actually turn out to be mostly dry, once you brush off the ice crystals. If it is cold and dry enough, there may be no ice, as the water may sublimate directly into gaseous water vapour.

One possible introduction: students are working in Antarctica and their parents are coming to visit. All the clothes that were shoved to the outside of the tent are now frozen — can you clean up fast enough?

Objectives

  • Describe the processes of freezing and melting.

Materials

  • Per Class:
    10 to 15 T-shirts
    freezer

Key Questions

  • Was it easy to unwrap the T-shirt at first?
  • What had to happen before the T-shirt could be undone?
  • What change of state is happening?

What To Do

Preparation

  1. Soak t-shirts completely in water and squeeze most of the water out.
  2. Roll and twist the t-shirt up in to a ball and put them in the freezer overnight.

Instructions

  1. Put students in groups of 2 or 3.
  2. Give each group a frozen t-shirt ball.
  3. Race to untangle the t-shirt.
  4. First team to have someone wear the t-shirt wins!

About the sticker

Survivors

Artist: Jeff Kulak

Jeff is a senior graphic designer at Science World. His illustration work has been published in the Walrus, The National Post, Reader’s Digest and Chickadee Magazine. He loves to make music, ride bikes, and spend time in the forest.

About the sticker

Egg BB

Artist: Jeff Kulak

Jeff is a senior graphic designer at Science World. His illustration work has been published in the Walrus, The National Post, Reader’s Digest and Chickadee Magazine. He loves to make music, ride bikes, and spend time in the forest.

About the sticker

Comet Crisp

Artist: Jeff Kulak

Jeff is a senior graphic designer at Science World. His illustration work has been published in the Walrus, The National Post, Reader’s Digest and Chickadee Magazine. He loves to make music, ride bikes, and spend time in the forest.

About the sticker

T-Rex and Baby

Artist: Michelle Yong

Michelle is a designer with a focus on creating joyful digital experiences! She enjoys exploring the potential forms that an idea can express itself in and helping then take shape.

About the sticker

Buddy the T-Rex

Artist: Michelle Yong

Michelle is a designer with a focus on creating joyful digital experiences! She enjoys exploring the potential forms that an idea can express itself in and helping then take shape.

About the sticker

Geodessy

Artist: Michelle Yong

Michelle is a designer with a focus on creating joyful digital experiences! She enjoys exploring the potential forms that an idea can express itself in and helping then take shape.

About the sticker

Science Buddies

Artist: Ty Dale

From Canada, Ty was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1993. From his chaotic workspace he draws in several different illustrative styles with thick outlines, bold colours and quirky-child like drawings. Ty distils the world around him into its basic geometry, prompting us to look at the mundane in a different way.

About the sticker

Western Dinosaur

Artist: Ty Dale

From Canada, Ty was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1993. From his chaotic workspace he draws in several different illustrative styles with thick outlines, bold colours and quirky-child like drawings. Ty distils the world around him into its basic geometry, prompting us to look at the mundane in a different way.

About the sticker

Time-Travel T-Rex

Artist: Ty Dale

From Canada, Ty was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1993. From his chaotic workspace he draws in several different illustrative styles with thick outlines, bold colours and quirky-child like drawings. Ty distils the world around him into its basic geometry, prompting us to look at the mundane in a different way.