3 Getting Warm

CHAPTER THREE Getting Warm Temperature (noun). Most people understand that temperature indicates hot or cold. Chemically speaking, it can help us predict which way energy flows. So when the temperature is high—like in steaming hot chocolate—there are more molecules in a state of high energy (dancing around) than there are in a cool glass of milk. Energy flow sure can be tasty! I FIGURED OUT WHAT WAS WRONG. It all had to do with dry ice. Right when we first entered the science lab, Ms. Daly had said, "If you think a glacier is cold, then try touching dry ice. Actually don't. Never ever touch dry ice, because it's so cold it can burn you." That meant if I wanted the chemical reaction to work quickly and make the best Ghost, one that would hit the finish line, we would need to use warm water. It would turn the dry ice into a gas way faster. I flipped on the faucet and water gushed out. It was sooooo cold. Then I waited.

I waved my fingers through the stream, but it was still cold. "What's taking you so long?" cried Phoenix. "Jeremy's group is about to put in their dry ice. And Julia's group already did." As Ms. Daly pushed the cart with the tub of dry ice over to Jeremy's table, the wheels rumbled over the floor. With her silver tongs, she plopped in the pellets of dry ice. Meanwhile, I tested the water again. Still lukewarm. What was wrong with the pipes at this school? "What are you doing?" cried out Phoenix. Birdie's eyebrows arched in concern. "I'll explain later," I mumbled. "We can't wait." Phoenix's mouth gaped open as she frantically pointed to the other groups. "Look at them!" I tried not to let the hiss of bubbles in the other bottles bother me. Jeremy, Elijah, and Memito hunched over their bottle, screaming, "Boooooooooo!" Waving their arms, they were glowing and grinning like jack-o'lanterns. Meanwhile Julia, Avery, and Skyler stared in wide-eyed wonder at their experiment. Everyone was getting ahead. But I couldn't let that stop us. "Don't worry!" I called out. "We can

catch up." Finally, at long last, the water gushed out warm. I filled the bottle up halfway, had Birdie add in the food coloring, and then speed-walked over to the cart. I smiled up at Ms. Daly. "Ten pieces of dry ice please," I said. But not in that fake innocent way that Jeremy uses. Just in my regular voice. "You got it, Kate," Ms. Daly said, dropping the dry ice into my bottle. It landed in the bottle with a satisfying plunk, plunk, plunk. I speed-walked back to our table. "Look!" I cried. "Bubbles are scooting to the surface." The bottle of bluish, purplish water filled with bubbles, first at the bottom, then shooting up to escape to the top. Jumping up and down, I could feel my own bubbles of happiness. "The pressure is building." I rubbed my hands together. "This is good. Very good!" Shapeless curls of white vapor spurted into the air. "Wow! It looks like a ghost," gushed Birdie. "Like the one my aunty in Ann Arbor saw in her house." "Oh, c'mon," I said. "She was only trying to scare you."

"Nope, it was real," insisted Birdie. "No way," I said. "I bet she could feel the presence of the ghost right in her bones," said Phoenix. "That's how you know a ghost has shown up." "Well, this ghost is definitely here! Look!" The Ghost rose up from the bubbling brew. It reached out a spooky, misty finger. A curl of vapor touched the yellow finish line. "We finished the first challenge!" hooted Phoenix, who then spun around in her ballet-like, vegan leather shoes. Her long hair swirled around her shoulders. Birdie gawked at the shifting shape of the mist. "It's so pretty." "Yes, it's beautiful. We did it!" I said. Operation Ghost was a success. We all highfived. And that's when I heard a familiar moan, and it was coming from the corner of the room.