1. My STEM Fair Project Mr. Thornton
If you want to give a title you can change “My STEM Fair Project” to whatever title you want.
Click in the box to put your name.

2. Question Does the temperature of water affect how long salt dissolves?
Replace the “Type your question here” with your project question.
Is your question testable? Does it match your project?

3. Purpose
I wanted to do this project because we were learning about mixtures and solutions in science class and I always wondered what makes salt dissolve faster.
Replace “type your purpose here” with your purpose.
Does your purpose explain why you chose to do this experiment? Does it connect you to your project?

4. Hypothesis
I think the warmer the temperature of the water it will dissolve salt faster because I know that hotter temperatures have particles moving faster and maybe they’ll break up the salt faster.
Replace “type your hypothesis here” with your hypothesis.
Make sure it’s a “I think ___ because ____” statement. Have you made an educated guess and given a reason for your guess? Is it a statement that can be tested?

5. Materials 3 clear plastic cups salt teaspoon (for measuring)
teaspoon (for stirring)
hot, room temperature, and cold water
graduated cylinder
stop watch
markers to label cups
Replace “type your materials here” with a list of your materials.
Are all the materials listed? Did you use metric units? Were you specific?

6. Variables Independent: Temperature of the water
Dependent: Amount of time for salt to dissolve (in seconds)
Control: size of cups, amount of water, amount of salt, stirring speed
Click after each type of variable and type your project variables.
Have you correctly identified the 3 different variables?

7. Step-by-step Directions
Label 3 cups: Hot, Room Temp., Cold
Pour 100 mL of hot water in the cup
Measure a level teaspoon of salt
Dump the salt in the hot water cup and start the timer
Stir the salt repeatedly until the salt is dissolved
Record the time it took to dissolve the salt
Repeat steps 2-6 two more times.
Repeat steps 2-6 three times with Room Temperature water
Repeat steps 2-6 three times with Cold water
Replace “type your step-by-step directions here” with your directions. This is a numbered list and after each direction, press “ENTER” and the next number will appear for you.
Are all the steps included? Do your directions give a clear plan on how to recreate your experiment?

8. Trial Data
Click on the “Picture” icon to insert your trial graph. It looks like a picture of mountains with a sun in the sky. When you do this you’ll have to find your graph in your own folder in the Thornton folder.
Are your independent (manipulated) and dependent (responding) variables accurately represented? Does your graph match your results? Is there trial and averaged data?

9. Average Data
Click on the “Picture” icon to insert your trial graph. It looks like a picture of mountains with a sun in the sky. When you do this you’ll have to find your graph in your own folder in the Thornton folder.
Are your independent (manipulated) and dependent (responding) variables accurately represented? Does your graph match your results? Is there trial and averaged data?

10. Conclusion
According to my data, my hypothesis was correct. Warmer temperatures do make salt dissolve faster in water. The average time it took to dissolve salt in hot water was 22.6 seconds, which was faster than room temperature’s average time, 43.3 seconds and way faster than cold temperature’s 78.6 seconds. I think this is good to know especially for cooks who have to dissolve salt or sugar when they cook. One way to improve this experiment would be to be more careful I was stirring the same speed because I am not sure if I was stirring with the same speed or not. If I did this experiment again, I would try it with sugar and see if I got the same kind of results. I also wonder if the same thing would happen if I used a different liquid like vinegar.
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Does your conclusion interpret your data and answer your hypothesis? Have you discussed ideas for future experiments? Improvements?