Measuring Freezing Points

I am doing a middle school science experiment regarding the effects of different fat content in milk on the time it takes for them to freeze. In order to perform this experiment, I need to know the temperature at which each type of milk freezes. Can someone give me the freezing point of whole, 1%, 2%, etc.?
- Andrew Lichtblau (age 13)
Virginia

You can do this measurement yourself. You need a good thermometer, but those aren't hard to find. You will wnat to do a few things to get those freezing points accurately. One will be to see what the thermometer reads as ice crystals first start to form. Another will be to see what it reads as liquid first starts to form. Probably those temperatures won't be quite equal. They may depend on how fast you heat or cool the milk. 

I'm curious as to why you need to know these freezing temperatures to measure the time to freeze. It seems simple enough to measure that time, which of course will depend on how cold the surroundings are, without knowing the exact temperature.

I'm also curious to know what the actual point of the experiment is. What is it that you're really wondering about? There are a lot of really interesting, even deep, things to understand about melting and freezing. How do those times connect to the interesting questions? How do the temperatures connect to the interesting questions?

Mike W.

(published on 11/28/2016)