will sea level rise when icebergs melt?
What happens when Huge icebergs break off and melt
In this ocean activity you will discover how the sea level is affected by melting icebergs. Do you know if the oceans will rise, stay the same or get lower if all the ice in the Arctic Ocean melted?
Materials
- Paper or plastic cup
- Water
- Plastic container
- Marking pen
Directions
- Freeze a cup full or water over night to make an iceberg.
- The next
day fill a plastic container about 3/4 full of water.
- Put your iceberg
into the container of water.
- Make a mark on the side of the plastic
container showing exactly where the water level is at the beginning of
the activity.
- Make a prediction about whether the water level will be
higher, lower or the same when the iceberg melts.
- After the iceberg has melted look at the mark on the side of the
container.
- Did you guess correctly what the water level would be after
the iceberg melted?
- Try this activity several times to verify what happened.
Our Water Cycle activity book contains fascinating activities related to water in this 46 page book. Activities in the fun science book include Water Melodies, What's the Volume, and Icebergs Ahead. Myrna Martin
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Science behind the activity
The iceberg floated on top of the water because water expands as it turns to ice. When the ice melted it decreases in volume to its original size.
If the ice in the Arctic Ocean melts it will not cause the ocean levels to rise. If the ice on the continent of Antarctica melted sea levels will rise because the water would be running off the continent into the oceans.
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