How Polar Animals Stay Warm in Icy Water?**lesson vid

Overview:

In this experiment, students will learn how polar animals stay warm while swimming through ice cold water. Students will experiment with sticking their hands in cold water and compare that to sticking their hand in a bag insulated by fat (shortening). The shortening will be used as an analogy to polar animal blubber.

Time:

5 min to do trial

Lesson Materials:

*You can use the document in the link below to either: tailor the experiment to your needs or to have a printable version of this lesson plan*

How Polar Animals Stay Warm in Icy Water? Lesson Plan

The plan is editable and printable. Copy the Google Doc in your own drive and make edits or you can just print.

How Polar Animals Stay Warm in Icy Water? Lesson Video:

Learning Objectives:

  1. Predict
  2. Test and observe
  3. Compare and contrast 
  4. Identify the importance of fat in polar animals.
  5. Identify how humans mimic blubber by wearing insulated jackets in the winter.

Materials Needed:

  • 1 latex glove
  • 1 can of Crisco
  • 1 bowl filled with icy water
  • Plastic wrap (optional)
  • Plastic Bag (optional)

Experimental Methods:

  1. First fill up a bowl with water.
  2. Next pour the ice into the water.
  3. Let the ice drop the temperature of the water.
  4. Test the water without the glove or blubber.
  5. Put the glove on.
  6. Dip the hand in the crisco.
  7. Have some help completely covering the hand. 
  8. Predict: Do you think the water will feel colder or warmer?
  9. Dip the hand into the icy water.
  10.  Observe the difference in the feel of the temperature.
  11. Discuss the differences observed.

Variations:

After step 6, the student may wrap their hand in plastic wrap with the crisco to avoid a mess.

Expected Experimental Results:

The student’s hand should not have felt as cold as the first trial. While understanding what helped them stay warm.

Questions to Think About:

  1. How can you improve the design/experiment?
  2. What materials could you use instead?
  3. Why did your hand not feel cold after?
  4. What would happen if we just use the glove?
  5. What would happen with a hole in the glove?
  6. How do the arctic animals get the blubber?

Chemistry:

Why did my hand not feel cold after? Because the crisco that was used acted like the blubber that sea animals have. Keeping me warm inside and not letting the cold water affect me. The bigger the sea animal is, the more blubber they are going to have.

Society:

Humans do not have blubber but they do stay warm by covering our body with more clothes. The thicker your sweater may be, the warmer you will stay.

Logistics:

STEAM Subjects: 

Science (Chemistry) and Art

Science Vocabulary: 

  • Blubber 
  • Water
  • Ice
  • Cold

References:

Jenae. (2015, January 22). HOW DO ARCTIC ANIMALS STAY WARM IN ICY WATER? icanteachmychild.com. Retrieved 2 21, 21, from https://www.icanteachmychild.com/how-arctic-animals-stay-warm-in-icy-water/