This solar energy children’s experiment is aimed at understanding the different heat absorbing capacity of different colours backgrounds and the effect of those on the melting rate of ice cubes.

Materials Needed:

** 6 different coloured square pieces of card or paper. Black and white are essential, and any other 4 colours will do (the three primary colours red, blue and yellow, as well as green are good choices for the other cards). Make the squares about 7cm x 7cm (3 inches x 3 inches).

** 6 ice cubes of the same shape and size

** food dyes (optional)

Procedure:

Put one ice cube on each card and place them all in the sun. Make sure all the ice cubes are exposed to full sunlight. See which one melts the fastest, which melts the slowest.

What Will Happen?