Icebox Erosion Try this experiment about the environment and then tell us what you discover!   What You Need: balloons water play dough freezer Question: How can ice break up rock? 1. First, fill a balloon with water and tie off the end. 2. Then, cover the water-filled balloon with play dough. 3. Put the covered balloon in the freezer over night. 4. Check out the balloon the next morning. 5. Can you explain what happened to the play dough? A Scientific Explanation Water is sometimes trapped in the cracks of a rock. When this water freezes, it expands, or gets bigger, and causes the cracks to widen. After a while, this freezing and expanding will break up the rock into smaller and smaller pieces until all that's left is dirt. This never-ending process is known as erosion. Something EXTRA! You can do for fun: Look for examples of erosion in your area. A good place to observe erosion is where a highway cuts into the side of a hill or mountain. Look for signs of erosion, such as cracks in the rock surface or pieces of smaller rocks at the base of the hill or mountain. When I did the experiment the playdough cracked! And that's just what I hypothisized! - Kevin W. I found that although water might not be very powerful-looking in liquid form, when it changes into ice, it's able to do many things, even crack open a "rock"! The changes in state (solid, liquid, gas) can acomplish many things. Matter is amazing! - Cynthia W. The playdough has become cold and sticky! - Madeline L. My balloon popped.But the dough was frozen.And if I touched it it would start to cave in or brake! - Shannon A. I studied this in school. It is very interesting how water can break a rock. When it rains the water goes into a crack,then when the temperature is low the water turns into ice, the water molecules spread or move apart. Next the rock cracks in half and this happens all over again like a cycle until the rock turns into pebbles. - Solena N. I did this experiment at school and I am still doing it in science and what I found out was that the balloon exploded because the ice takes up more space than water! - Sam H. When water freezes it expands so when the ballon froze, it got bigger than normal and the playdough broke. - Javon M.