Ice Cream Science Fair Projects

We all scream for ice cream! Whether your favorite flavors are vanilla, chocolate, or perhaps some rocky road, ice cream is one of many favorite foods for all age demographics. Ice cream also has another purpose besides being eaten; it has the ability to demonstrate various scientific properties. Ice cream can be used in your next science fair project to demonstrate science such as various laws of chemistry. Furthermore, ice cream is a tasty treat that will surely have your audience coming back to learn more!

What if you had the ability to demonstrate how to make ice cream almost instantly with some accessible household ingredients, and at the same time showcase simple chemistry? Check out this experiment that can teach you how too!

- Make ice cream in a baggie

- Gathering some various house hold products and a thermometer, you can make ice cream at home within 20 minutes! When you add salt to the ice, it lowers the freezing point of the ice, so even more energy has to be absorbed from the environment in order for the ice to melt. This makes the ice colder than it was before, which is how your ice cream freezes.

- Ingredients:

1/2 cup whipping cream (heavy cream)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla or vanilla flavoring (vanillin)
1/2 to 3/4 cup sodium chloride (NaCl) as table salt or rock salt
2 cups ice
1-quart ZiplocTM bag
1-gallon ZiplocTM bag
1/2 cup milk

Thermometer
1. Add 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup whipping cream, and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla to the quart ziplocTM bag. Seal the bag securely.
2. Put 2 cups of ice into the gallon ziplocTM bag.
3. Use a thermometer to measure and record the temperature of the ice in the gallon bag.
4. Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup salt (sodium chloride) to the bag of ice.
5. Place the sealed quart bag inside the gallon bag of ice and salt. Seal the gallon bag securely.
6. Gently rock the gallon bag from side to side. It's best to hold it by the top seal or to have gloves or a cloth between the bag and your hands because the bag will be cold enough to damage your skin.
7. Continue to rock the bag for 10-15 minutes or until the contents of the quart bag have solidified into ice cream.
8. Open the gallon bag and use the thermometer to measure and record the temperature of the ice/salt mixture.
9. Remove the quart bag, open it, serve the contents into cups with spoons