If we add materials that have microscopic holes in them between two containers, then the air in the container on the inside should stay colder for longer, because the molecules can't get between the gap between the solid and the gas.

We know that materials that have microscopic holes take a long time to heat up because vibrating molecules bump into each other  more when they are in a solid but when there is holes and the chain is broken, the energy/heat can't get across.

small container, large container, ice.

First, Place a small container into larger food container. After that, Place insulating materials between both containers and put an ice cube in  the smaller container then freeze both containers with the ice until the containers are the temperature of the freezer inside and out. Take out of the freezer and stab a thermometer through both containers and wait for them to reach room temp.

the polly foam started to increase in tempeture but then stayed at zero degrees for a long time. the experiments took longer than expected. we thought it would last maybe 1-2 hours but lasted up to 9 hours  

The control finished first as expected, the polyfoam finished last not as expected and we did not think that the poly foam would last such a long time.

Why do we think it happened? Because the microscopic holes in the long lasting materials had little holes between the solids stopping the energy/heat from passing through the material.

What did we learn? That materials with microscopic holes insulate very very well

• The control’s ice melted with a time of 00:22:29
• The polyethylene foam’s ice melted with a time of 17:43:24
• The styrofoam’s ice melted with a time of 6:56;27
• The shredded paper’s ice melted with a time of 4:22:33

One of the benefits of doing this experiment is you can modify your own fridge to be more energy efficient so that YOU can spend less on electricity and gas.

We had trouble getting polly foam from the car seat. 

It was also hard to get Brian (the expert from The Calgary Dry Ice company). 

It took a few times to do the experiments because sometimes the melting of the ice would take longer than expected and we would leave and when we got back the ice would be melted and we weren't able to get the exact time but after a few experiments we got the right time.

https://www.cysf.org/

https://www.homehardware.ca/en

Bryan Hawley (the owner of Calgary Dry Ice Ltd), Philana Wong, Pamela MacDonald.