This week we have been learning about dissolving.  This is a very different process to melting – though the two are often confused!

We investigated which materials were soluble (would dissolve) and which materials were insoluble (wouldn’t dissolve) in water.  We discussed different variables and how to ensure that we carried out a fair test, though some of us forgot about this in the excitement of mixing the materials!  Remember – for a fair test, it’s very important to only change the variable you are testing (in this case different materials) – everything else (amount of water, temperature, stirring, container, amount of material) has to remain the same.

We learned lots of new scientific vocabulary – soluble, insoluble, dissolving, solvent, solution – and were able to record our results accurately.  Our next step is to write our experiment up as a scientific report.

We will build on this experiment next week, by investigating whether temperature affects dissolving.

We are also keen to use our new knowledge of evaporation and dissolving to grow our own crystals – so watch this space!