Every winter, our algorithms fill with dramatic slow-motion videos: someone tosses a pot of boiling water into frigid air, and it vanishes into a cloud. Others whip up ice cream on their back deck or capture delicate soap bubbles freezing into intricate crystal globes. These aren’t just viral trends; they’re bite-sized physics lessons happening in real time.
If you’re looking to squeeze a little more wonder out of winter before spring arrives, here are three cold-weather science experiments to try and how they work.
1. The Boiling Water “Snow” Trick
What you’ll need:
● A pot of boiling water
● A mug
● Extremely cold outdoor air (must be -20 Celsius or colder)
● Thick gloves
● Eye protection
How to do it:
Bring water to a rolling boil indoors. Carefully take a mug of the boiling water outside. With a quick upward toss (away from your body and others), fling the water into the air and step back. If conditions are right, the water won´t fall as liquid, but it will explode into a dramatic cloud of mist.
What´s Happening?
Although the water starts at 100°C, it’s divided into tiny droplets when thrown. Smaller droplets have much more surface area relative to their volume, meaning they lose heat extremely quickly. In very cold air, these droplets flash-freeze or vaporize almost instantly. There are two main processes at work here: evaporation and rapid freezing. Evaporation is when any liquid changes phases to a gas. Some of the water turns into vapour immediately because it´s already near its boiling point. Rapid freezing occurs when the remaining tiny droplets freeze before they can fall back down.
The result is a beautiful, snowy plume. Have fun!
Important note: never use warm water for this experiment. It won’t create the same effect While many people online through the water above their head,boiling water can cause serious burns, so we do not recommend tossing it directly above yourself or at others. Safety is crucial.
2. Ice Cream Made from Snow (or Just Cold Air)
What you´ll need:
● 1 cup of heavy cream
● 2 tablespoons of sugar
● ½ teaspoon of vanilla
● A metal bowl
● Snow (optional)
● Outdoor temperatures below -10 celsius
How to do it:
Mix the cream, sugar, and vanilla in a metal bowl. Take it outside and place the bowl directly in the snow — or simply let the frigid air do the work. Stir continuously for several minutes.
Soon, the mixture will thicken into soft ice cream
What´s happening?
Ice cream forms when liquid fat and water freeze into a semi-solid mixture, and air is incorporated through stirring.
In a typical kitchen, a freezer provides the cold environment. Outside in deep winter, the atmosphere becomes your freezer. Cold air removes heat from the mixture. Stirring prevents large ice crystals from forming and incorporates air, creating a smooth texture instead of a solid frozen block. This experiment highlights two important principles: heat always moves from warmer objects to colder surroundings and that the rate of cooling increases when the temperature difference is large.
3. Freezing Soap Bubbles
What you´ll need:
● Bubble solution
● A bubble wand
● Gloves
● Outdoor temperatures below -15 celsius
How to do it:
Blow a bubble gently and let it land on snow or a cold surface. Watch closely, within seconds, delicate frost-like patterns will spread across the surface of the bubble, sometimes turning it into a shimmering crystal globe before it collapses.
What´s happening?
Soap bubbles are thin films of water sandwiched between layers of soap molecules. In extreme cold, the water in that film begins to freeze. As freezing starts, tiny ice crystals form and spread outward. The patterns you see are caused by crystallization. Water molecules arrange themselves into a repeating lattice structure. The branching designs resemble frost on a window because the same physical principles apply. If you’re lucky, you can photograph the bubble mid-freeze. Timing is everything.
Before winter melts away, take advantage of this dark and cold season.
