Soap Snowballs

Soap Snowballs
Collect:
• 1 bar of Ivory soap
*This experiment will only work with Ivory soap!
• Microwave
• Mixing bowl
• Water
Heat it up.
1. Place the bar of soap on a paper plate or piece of paper towel.
2. Microwave the soap on HIGH for 1 minute. Watch what happens.
3. You should end up with a fluffy pile of soap snow!
Make a soap ball.
4. When it’s warm enough to touch, break off a clump of the fluffy soap and hold it over the bowl. Squish
the soap in your hand so that it starts to crumble and flake off into the bowl.
5. Continue to break the soap into flakes until the whole bar is gone.
6. Slowly add a little bit of water and start to mix the flakes together with your hands. Keep adding water
until you can form a ball with the soap.
7. Let the soap snowballs set overnight to dry.
8. Use the soapball as you would regular soap!
Soapy-science
Why does this experiment only work with Ivory soap? Ivory soap has lots and lots of tiny air bubbles
whipped into it, which makes it lighter and less dense than regular soap. Those air bubbles also contain a
little bit of moisture (water). When you put the soap in the microwave, that water starts to heat up and
expand. You can also try this experiment with half a bar or a quarter of a bar. How big can you get the
soap to grow?
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