Friday, September 14, 2012

Day #7 Homeschoool Activity


Mr. Vanderbilt, who built the Breakers mansion, had a thick marble bathtub in his personal bathroom. It is pictured here. Marble is cool to the touch. To make the bathtub warm, it had to be filled with hot water. The heat quickly transferred from the water to the marble. The now-lukewarm water was drained out of the tub and it was again filled with hot water. This process was repeated several times until the tub was warm enough to keep the water warm.

Mr. Vanderbilt’s bathtub had four spigots. Two were the hot and cold water from the wells which supplied the house. The other two were hot and cold water from the ocean – salt water. People thought soaking in salt water was therapeutic. Have you ever soaked in salt water? If you dumped a lot of salt into your bath water would it feel different? It is easier to float in salt water. Can you float objects more easily in your salt-water bath than your fresh water bath? 


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