1. Question
What material (foam, plastic, or paper) insulates an ice cube the best?
An insulator is something that slows down or stops the transfer of heat.

2. Hypothesis
Most of the class thought that foam would be the best insulator.
We thought this because:
When hot coffee is in a foam cup it stays hotter longer and your hand doesn’t get too hot.
Chili’s puts leftovers in foam boxes to keep them cold or warm.
We’ve seen ice stored in foam coolers when people go on boats so that their ice doesn’t melt during the day.
In other cups, like paper cups, ice in drinks melts quickly.
We saw foam keep hot things hot and cold things cold.

3. Materials Timer Graduated Cylinder 2 plastic cups 2 foam cups
2 paper cups
1 bowl
Masking tape
A spoon
4 ice cubes

4. Procedure
The night before the experiment, freeze the ice cubes. Take care to use trays that will produce the same sized ice cubes or it may affect your experiment!
Each group should have the materials listed, along with a sheet to record data on.
Place an ice cube in each of the 3 types of cups and one in the bowl at the same time.
Tape the cups shut as pictured:

5. Procedure 5. Set the timer for 45 minutes.
6. When the timer dings, immediately remove all the ice cubes from the cups and the bowl, being careful to leave all of the liquid behind.
7. Carefully measure the amount of liquid left in each cup and the bowl with the graduated cylinder.
8. Record your data on your sheet as you go.

6. Independent Variable (What did I change?)
Variables
Controlled Variables
(What did I keep
the same?)
Dependent Variable
(What did I observe?)
Independent Variable (What did I change?)
We kept the time the ice was in each cup or bowl the same in all the trials.
All of the ice cubes were in the same room, so the temperature was the same.
We kept the size of the ice cube the same
We looked for the volume of water that was poured off at the end of the experiment. We also used milliliters as our standard unit of measurement.
We changed the type of container we placed the ice cubes in. We used a bowl, a covered paper cup, a covered foam cup, and a covered plastic cup.

7. Data Team Uncovered Bowl Paper Cup Plastic Cup Foam Cup
Eva, James, and Sofia
12 ML
7 ML
5ML
4ML
Emma, Mia, and Griffin
10 ML
7ML
6ML
Jared, Andrew, and Makeilla
9 ML
3ML
Kaleb, Aubree, and Noah
12ML
Abby, Niyah, and Amari
11 ML
2 ½ ML
Heather, Zachary, and Lauren
11ML
8ML

8. Results
Our results showed that in all the trials, the uncovered ice cube melted the most.
Our data showed that in all trials the ice cube in the foam cup melted the least.
The amount of melted water in the paper and plastic cups varied among the trails, but we noted that it was still always less than the uncovered cup and more than the foam cup.
Our hypothesis was correct! The foam cup was the best insulator. It blocked the movement of the heat the best.

9. Conclusion
We knew from our reading that heat always travels from warm areas to cool areas.
We knew that water doesn’t stay in the form of ice unless it is 0 degrees Celsius, so we could tell that heat “got to” the ice when we started to see water or melting. Therefore, the more water we saw, the less the object was insulated from the heat.
When we did more reading we discovered that some materials that make good insulators include: air, wood, and plastic. Our cups were all made out of good insulators!
Our paper cup is a wood product and it insulated the ice cube
Our plastic cup also helped insulate the ice cube a little
Our best insulator was the foam cup. Foam is a combination of air and plastic!

10. Conclusion
If I were to do this experiment again, I would try wooden containers because I learned those are good insulators and I wonder if wood insulates better than paper.
I would try another type of plastic. I wonder if there are certain types of plastic that are better insulators than others.
I would try insulating another type of matter besides ice.
I would try to combine two other types of insulators (like cotton and wood) to see if another combination of insulators will work better than the foam.