String Ice

Water is a remarkable substance because it can exist in three different forms -- solid, liquid, and gas. Ice is strong enough to
wreck ships (when it's in the form of a glacier).

Is ice strong enough to keep a string from cutting it in half?

You will need:

A thin string

A bottle with a cork

An ice cube

2 heavy forks

Building the Experiment:

Push the cork into the bottle so that about 1-inch sticks out.

Balance the ice cube on the tip of the cork.

Cut a piece of string about 1 foot 4 inches long and tie one fork to each end.

Hand the string over the ice cube.

Put the bottle in the refrigerator.

The string will pass through the ice without dividing it in half.

Here's how it works:

The pressure of the string makes the ice melt just below it. Water forms under the string and it slides down through the ice. The
ice freezes again just above the string. This is what happens when people skate on ice. Their weight presses on the ice and makes
it melt under the blades.

Did you know...

If ice didn't have this property, we couldn't ice skate!