Acitivity 1 1-20-11 Experimental Design and Conclusions

Reflect on the expansion of water and salt water experiments you and your classmates performed. What are some of the interesting results and struggles with this experiment.

• One of the most common things that were involved in this experiment was that it was difficult to actually measure the expansion or contraction of the ice. With it being such a small amount of expansion, it is hard to see with the naked eye. I think that if maybe it were gallons of water rather than ounces, it would have been better to see the expansion. One of the interesting results was that the water with the salt did not expand as well as the water without the salt.

Relate your thoughts on this experiment to the scientific question "Is the earth warming?"

• It is really hard for me to come to a conclusion about how I feel about global warming. It is not as easy question and therefore that's why it is so controversial. In some ways I do believe the Earth is warming. There are many observations made today that point in that direction. However, there are also many things that differ from those observations. I believe that one day the Earth will be covered by water, however I do not believe that to  be for a long time yet. If glaciers keep forming, melting and expanding, life on Earth could be non-existent one day.