Dry Ice Experiment: Crystal ball By: Kiran John, Luke Arnesen and Roshan Ganesh

Question Which type of soap will make the biggest dry ice crystal ball?

Hypothesis If we put Dawn, Ajax, and Ultra Joy on different towels and then spread the soap, using a towel, in a thin film on the bowl with dry ice and water in the bowl then Ajax will have the biggest average bubble.

Materials Tape measure Bowl Dawn Ajax Ultra Joy Towel Dry Ice Gloves

Variables Control variables: Manipulated variable: Responding variable: Bowl Type of dish soap The size of the crystal ball Dry ice Towel Gloves Tape measure

Procedures Get Materials needed for experiment Put dry ice in the bowl Put water in the same bowl Soak towel with Dawn Slide towel over bowl Measure the bubble Wash bowl Repeat steps 1-3 Soak towel with Ajax Repeat steps 5-7 Soak towel with Ultra Joy Repeat steps 5-7 Do experiment 3x

Results

Conclusion My hypothesis was supported because I thought Ajax would create the biggest bubble on average and I was right.

Explanation The different sizes of bubbles could be explained by the temperature of the water, the amount of water, the amount of soap, and/or the chemical composition of the soap.

Problems One of our problems was that the Ajax’s dry ice piece weighed 0.1 ounces more than every other piece, we solved our problem by making a graph and finding the slope. We also have reason to believe that we used cold water for dawn, but hot water for the others.

More Questions How big would the bubble be we other soaps? How about hand soaps? How long would the ball last if you took out the dry ice?