Snow Globes

7/21/2019 Snow Globes

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12/14/15

Salt Solubility In Snow Globes

Introduction: Making snow globes is sure a lot of fun, but there is a science behind it. Using a jar

or any type of container, a little figuring, and common chemicals laying around the house you

can make your own snow globe. We will be testing for our snow globes what liquids will not

dissolve salt, and provide an appropriate rate of fall when shaken.

Procedure:

1.) In an 8oz container with a lid, put 9.8g sea salt and 14.7g epson salt. Mix them

together. Pour in 8oz rubbing alcohol.

2.) Close the container and shake, putting the lid surface down.

3.) Determine how fast or slow the “snow” falls and if it dissolves in the substance.

4.) Record Observations

5.) Clean out container

6.) Mix 4.9g Kosher Salt and 9.8g Table Salt. Pour 8 oz rubbing alcohol into container

7.) Repeat steps 2-5

8.) Pour 4.9g of Table Salt and 8oz baby oil into container


10.) Mix 9.8g Sea Salt and 14.7g Epson Salt together, add 8oz baby oil.




Data Table:

Lab Questions:

1.) The first snow globes were invented in the 19th century and were made of glass for

the dome and glass powder for the “snow”.

2.) I chose the mixture of baby oil, Sea Salt, and epson salt because I found it to look the

most like snow, and the baby oil didn’t dissolve the snow like water or rubbing alcohol would.

3.) The parts of a solution are the solute, which is the thing being dissolved, and solvent,

the substance doing the dissolving. I used sea salt and epson salt as my solute, and the baby oil as

my solvent.

4.) Solubility is the greatest amount of solute that can dissolve in a solvent. My snow

didn’t dissolve in my solution because salt is insoluble to oil

5.) The density of the salts and oils caused the fall time of my snow to vary in the

samples

Amounts of

Substance

Rate of Fall Dissolve?

(Yes or No)

Test 1 9.8g Sea Salt14.7g Kosher Salt

8oz Rubbing Alcohol

Too quick, almost allat once

yes, after 3 or 4shakes

Test 2 4.9g Kosher Salt

9.8g Table Salt

8oz Rubbing Alcohol

Too quick, almost all

at once

yes

Test 3 4.9g Table Salt

8oz Baby Oil

Too fine to see fall no

Test 4 9.8 Sea Salt

14.7 Epson Salt

8oz Baby Oil

Slower, more like

snow

no



6.) The sodium ions and chloride ions separate from each other and become dispersed

within the water molecules. Oil is made of lipids: chains of carbon and hydrogen, which are not

ionic at all. Therefore there are no places for the ionic sodium and chloride to hide within the

lipids. The Na and Cl would prefer to stay with each other where they have nice ionic

interactions, the result is that the salt does not dissolve.

7.) When the salt is simply placed to the water, the salt sinks to the bottom and stays

there. The movements of the salt in the water causes the salt to separate their atoms and connect

with the water molecules.

8.) The liquid with the highest viscosity is baby oil, then rubbing alcohol, and finally

water.

Analysis:

Every jar had 8oz of some substance, and within each trial different amounts of different

types of salts were added. The first trial of kosher and sea salt within rubbing alcohol had fallen

too quickly in the container to be considered snow. When substituting the amount of kosher salt

with a lesser amount and using table salt instead of sea salt in the second trial resulted in almost

the exact same results as the first trial. 4.9g of table salt was too small to see within 8oz of baby

oil. Sea salt and epson salt looked the most like snow, and fell at an appropriate rate to resemble

snowfall within the baby oil.



Conclusion:

In this project, we tested what salt was dissolvable in by making snow globes. I

hypothesized that some liquids will not dissolve certain types of salt. I learned that anything

water based will dissolve salt, unlike substances that aren’t water based such as baby oil will not

dissolve salt. Errors that occurred in this project are not being completely accurate in the

amounts of salt I put into the solutions. In conclusion, to make a snow globe out of a type of salt

and some substance, the best option would be sea and kosher salt in baby oil.



Works Cited

Churchill, Alexandria. “The Accidental Invention of the Snow Globe.” marthastewart.com

Martha Stewart Living Inc., 2015. Dec 2015.

madsci.org MadSci Network, Mar 2002. Dec 2015. http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/

2002-03/1015878783.Ch.r.html

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/

http://madsci.org/

http://marthastewart.com/

Documents

Snow Globes