Icy Insulation: The Science Behind Marine Mammal Survival in Cold Waters with Sarah Spivey

Watch Sarah’s science experiment at Fair Oaks Elementary School here! Hello parents, teachers, and students! Be sure to tune in to GMSA@9 on Wednesdays when Meteorologist Sarah Spivey does the demonstrations and explains the science behind it. Science with Sarah is a partnership between the San Antonio Zoo and KSAT.

If you’re interested in conducting your own experiment, here’s what you need: a large bowl filled with ice water, two Ziploc baggies, and some Crisco or another vegetable shortening. Now let’s go through the steps of the experiment.

Step 1: Fill a large bowl with ice and water. Step 2: Place your hand in the ice water and see how long you can keep it in there before it gets too cold. Step 3: Fill a Ziploc bag with some Crisco. Step 4: Place your hand in another Ziploc baggie, then place your bagged hand into the other bag filled with the shortening. This creates a layer of “blubber” around your hand. Step 5: Stick your “blubbered” hand into the ice water bath. You should be able to keep it in the ice water for a lot longer!

Many marine animals such as polar bears, whales, walruses, and seals use blubber to keep them warm in icy waters. Without blubber, they wouldn’t be able to survive. In this experiment, we used Crisco and ziplock bags to act as a protective layer of blubber for our hand against the cold of the ice water.

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