Melting Ice Bergs

What happens if the polar ice caps melt? Well, if our experiment is any indication, nothing! Actually I did have one drop of water drip down the side of my bowl, but it never hit the counter.

After I conducted the experiment I did a bit of research. I found that North Polar ice caps float in water therefore, as in our experiment, if they were to melt it would not cause flooding. Because frozen water expands, and because there is ice under the water taking up space, when the icebergs in the north pole melt the water takes up the same amount of space within the water as it did as when it was frozen.

The South Pole icebergs on the other hand are sitting atop the Antarctica. If they were to melt there would be increased water levels around the world. Most articles I read did not think the increase would be more than a few meters; however, just a few meters would be enough to flood low-lying cities and even entire low-lying countries like Indonesia. This would have many negative consequences on these areas – homes and businesses ruined, diseases causes by stagnant mosquito infested water, etc.

This Science Inquiry Experience seems as though it models a guided inquiry format because it was framed with plenty of questions which guided your direction. I feel more comfortable with this type of format as a student and as a teacher than the open inquiry format.