CHARLOTTE, N.C. — National Hot Chocolate Day is coming up on Wednesday, January 31st, so we thought it would be fun to explore the best water temperature to make hot chocolate!
As someone who is sensitive to hot drinks and liquids, I have a tendency to do this wrong. This is a great opportunity to explore the scientific method with your kids, drink something yummy AND have parental supervision. :)
What you’ll need:
- 2 mugs or paper hot cups
- Hot chocolate mix
- Spoon
- Half a mug (or cup) of cold water
- Half a mug (or cup) of hot water
Instructions:
1) Ask your child to make a prediction about which temperature of water will dissolve the hot chocolate mix faster. You can even have them write it down to feel like a REAL scientist!
2) Put one spoonful of hot chocolate mix in each of the cups or mugs.
3) Pour cold water to fill up ½ of one of the two cups/mugs. You can have your child either count out loud how long it takes to dissolve or use the timer on your phone!
4) Do the same carefully using hot water that is heated and poured by an adult.
5) Compare the results to each other and if the child made an initial prediction, was it correct?
What happens?
The hot water will dissolve the hot chocolate mix much faster than cold water.
Why does this happen?
Similar to our candy cane experiment last month, it all has to do with the energy of water. Hot water has more energy in it than cold water does so the molecules in the water move faster. This attacks and breaks down the powder a lot faster in the hot water vs. cold water!