Freeze six containers of water to varying degrees of solidity. Use plastic, non-conducting containers only, because using a metal container of any sort will defeat the purpose. Three of your containers should be filled with one of each of the following: frozen salt water, frozen tap or mineral water, and frozen distilled water. The other three containers should have slightly melted, but not completely frozen salt water, tap or mineral water, and distilled water. There should be a wet sheen on the surface of the liquid.
Use three more similar containers and fill these three with regular, unfrozen salt water, tap water and distilled water, and be prepared to test their properties as well. This will then complete your control group. On a piece of paper, create a table that lists each of the different types of ice and water you will be testing. Next to each type leave space for notes that indicate the ability of the liquid or ice to conduct electricity to power the light bulb, and also note the level of brightness.
Set up your circuit board to test your various subjects. Take three pieces of wire -- one red, one black and one another color, such as yellow or green -- and attach an alligator clip to each stripped end. The black wire strip should be attached to the negative terminal of a 6-volt battery, and the red wire strip should be attached to the positive terminal. Attach the other black wire to a 6-volt light bulb with two wire leads. Do not use an encased bulb since you won’t be able to attach the wires. Attach the stripped end of your other color wire to the second lead on the bulb, leaving one end of the red wire and the other color wire unattached.
Attach the open ends of the red and other color wires to the surface of the containers holding the different subjects, one by one, to complete the circuit to the bulb. For the water and the softer ices, place a small clip to the side of the container to hold the wire ends just under the surface for a good connection. If the ice has properties to conduct electricity, such as mobile ions or electrons, the battery will light the bulb. Record your results on your table to determine at what level the ice starts and stops conducting the electricity and how much ice is created.
Solid ice is not a conductor of electricity, since the mobile carriers are frozen in place and do not cause friction. In this case, the ice is an insulator against conducting electricity to the battery and lighting the bulb. Ice that is slightly melted and created with salt or tap water will conduct some electricity to the light bulb, depending on how many mineral and salt ions are in the water. Distilled water ice, even when it is melted, will not conduct electricity since there are no mobile carriers contained within -- even in its liquid state.