Mr.

Dziunycz
Grace Mu
Grade 8 Science, Period 7
October 24, 2014
States of Matter Final Lab Conclusion
To begin this lab, we filled a glass beaker with water and ice. Then we set up our station,
which consisted of a stand, a hot plate, an O-ring clamp, an additional clamp, and a thermometer.
We placed the beaker over the hot plate, and slid the thermometer through the O-ring clamp, and
into the water. When we were ready to begin, we turned on the hot plate and began the
stopwatch. Every thirty seconds, my group made sure to record the temperature of the water, and
to make at least one observation about the physical changes of the ice and water. We continued
to do this for twenty minutes, and once we were done, we made sure to turn off the hot plate and
clean up our station.
I made several observations during this lab. First, the temperature stayed at 0C for the
first minute and a half. During this time, the water and ice did not change very much. After this,
the temperature began to increase rapidly. At eight and a half minutes, when the temperature was
34C, the ice had melted completely into water, and steam was being released.

By the time

thirteen and a half minutes passed, the water was beginning to boil. Then, for the rest of the
time, the water stayed at a constant temperature of 98C. While the water stayed at this
temperature, the amount of water slowly began to diminish, and condensation formed around the
beaker.
I learned that the temperature is closely related to the way the ice changes states of
matter. As the temperature increased, the ice went through each state of matter. First it changed

from a solid to a liquid through melting, and then it began to boil and change into a gas. When I
graphed the data, I noticed that there were two plateaus. One was at 0C, when the ice was
beginning to melt. The other, occurred at 98C, as the water was boiling. I noticed that these
two plateaus were significant because they were the points in time when the water was changing
states. I also realized that my graph resembled that graph in the notes. The only difference was
that the water was boiling at 100C in the graph in the notes, while the water we observed
appeared to have boiled at 98C. This was probably caused by a human error. The thermometer
may not have been close enough to the water, and therefore said that the temperature was slightly
lower than it should have been. We also may have read the thermometer incorrectly. In order to
make this lab more understandable, I would have taken better observations, which would have
helped me better comprehend what happens to the water as it reaches specific temperatures.
Overall, this lab was enjoyable and very educational.