Hooked on Science: Expanding water

It's that time of the year when the cold weather can freeze your pipes. Using a few materials from around the house, you can learn the science behind how freezing water can burst your pipes.

Materials

* Water

* Plastic bottle with lid

* Freezer

Instructions

STEP 1: Fill the plastic bottle to the top with water and tightly twist the lid on the bottle.

STEP 2: Place the water-filled bottle into the freezer overnight.

Explanation

As the water freezes it expands and requires more room. Therefore, as the frozen water expands it eventually breaks the plastic bottle.

Jason Lindsey is a Science Outreach Educator with Hooked on Science. Check out his website "Hooked On Science" at hookedonscience.org for webcasts and experiments that might get you hooked on science. Send him your science questions at jlindsey@hookedonscience.org. More science experiments can be found at www.semissourian.com.