Snow Science: Freezing and Melting Points the Same?!

 Updated December 23, 2022

We were hoping for snow when we went to Maine over winter break. We were lucky to not only get snow, but sticky snow, which is perfect for making snowmen! (My daughter repeatedly reminds me that we actually made snowwomen!)

As the snow started to fall, the temperature was hovering around 32 degrees Fahrenheit, the freezing point of water. We tried to see snow crystals, or snowflakes, as they fell, but the crystals were partially melted and clumpy. The weather provided a natural lesson about changes of state- in this case, freezing and melting.

I shared with my daughter that the freezing and melting points of water are the same (technically, there are small observed differences). 

How is it possible that freezing and melting, which are opposites, happen at the same temperature?

This didn't make sense to her. I asked her whether water would be ice or liquid water just below the freezing/melting point. It would be ice! What about just above the freezing point? It would be liquid water! She realized that the freezing/melting point is the threshold between these two states of matter.

The snow we used for making our snowwoman and snowgirl had the perfect mix of solid and liquid water to create a sticky snow. We started with a small snowball and rolled it on the snow-covered ground. It grew very quickly!

We piled the giant snowballs on top of one another, and added some embellishments that we found around the yard.

We were lucky to have the sticky snow we hoped for on this trip. Maybe on a future trip, we will experience the fluffy powder snow that's perfect for sledding!

Here is a video from the Fleet Science Center that discusses simple snowflake science and gives directions for making six-pointed paper snowflakes. I used it with my middle school students for a relaxed activity just before winter break. I think it would also work well with grades 3 - 5.

Fleet2Go: How to Make Paper Snowflakes

I also used this video on snowflake science with my middle school students:

The Science of Snowflakes

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