Science
- Superabsorbent polymers and their use in real life applications, like in baby’s nappies and agriculture to retain water in soil.
- The process of osmosis, in this case, the passive movement of water through a membrane from low to high salt concentration. What happens when salt is sprinkled on the snow?
- Evaporation: when water evaporation occurs and the snow dries out, it is ready it erupt again.
- Physical reaction as opposed to a chemical reaction. The polymer changes physically from powder to artificial snow, but there is no new chemical made (so this is not a chemical reaction). Ice melting is another example of a physical reaction.
Teaching the Conservation of Mass
Great Science Fair Idea – Use Magic-Snow to learn about the conservation of mass. Start by accurately weighing 1 blue scoop of the snow polymer (about 3 grams). Perform the experiment described above by adding 60 mL water to the powder to make snow. Accurately weigh the snow. Place the snow in an open container and allow the water to evaporate. This may take several days, depending on the humidity. When all of the water has completely evaporated, accurately weigh the remaining powder. If the law of conservation of mass is correct, you should have recovered the same amount of Magic Snow powder you started with at the beginning of the experiment. This proves that the reaction that took place was a physical reaction and not a chemical reaction since the Magic Snow powder never actually changed.
Disposal
To dispose add it to any plant or garden soil to increase its water retaining properties.