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Veritasium
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These resources have been reviewed and selected by STEM Learning’s team of education specialists for factual accuracy and relevance to teaching STEM subjects in UK schools.
Ice cutting experiment
This video introduces the process of regelation. This is when ice melts as pressure is applied to it and then re-freezes when the pressure is removed. An experiment is conducted using two lengths of wire attached to two 1.5kg masses. One wire is made from copper and the other is fishing wire. Students are asked to predict which wire would cut through the ice fastest.
The demonstration shows that the copper wire moves considerably faster through the ice than the fishing wire. This is because copper has a higher thermal conductivity. When the ice re-freezes it releases heat. The heat conducts through the copper into the ice below and this additional heat speeds up the melting process. Fishing line is a poor thermal conductor.
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