Did the Rules of Physics Abandon My Kitchen?

My questions would be:
-was the bowl you were stirring the cream in very cold? If not, that would present a problem, I think. It helps if you use a metal bowl that has been kept in the freezer.
-Was the heavy cream very cold? It works better if it is very cold.

Even with an ice cream machine (has a bowl that is kept in the freezer and then just spins the paddle mixer electrically), my ice cream nearly always takes 20-30 min and is more like soft serve. Probably because I am impatient and usually make it n a whim, therefore my ingredients are not as cold as they should be to start off. It helps if you pop the cream/milk/sugar mixture into the freezer for a bit to get it super cold but not frozen, before mixing it in your ice cream maker. It also helps to set the "completed" ice cream in the freezer again for a few hours to really set up, otherwise it is more like soft serve. At least, that is my experience.

Good old Pinterest! I have had my share of Pinterest fails!

Pintrest fail.

But love anyone who references physics in the kitchen!

You should,have your son make his own ice cream! Google it. You do it in a zip lock bag.

I bought an ice cream maker. We use it all the time. Well worth the money, and a great way to use up spoiling fruit.

Yeah, it can take a while, :/

You could try doing the apsame thing, but in ziplock bags. Put the ingredients in a smaller bag, and the ice and salt in the bigger one. (I reccomend double-bagging the ingredient bag... You don't want that salt water getting in. Lol.) then you just shake and work the bag until it becomes ice cream. We do this for camping all the time. :) it's nice, because you aren't stuck with a bowl. You can carry it around and do whatever. Or, you can let your kid do it.

It would depend upon how cold your refrigerator is to begin with, I would think. If your heavy cream starts out at 33*, it will become ice cream a lot faster than if your heavy cream starts out at 39*, right? Refrigerators can be set within a 7* range, which is actually quite a bit, considering that ice cream needs to be below 20* to set up properly. Also, if your kitchen is a little on the warm side, that will have an effect as well. I'd think for optimal results, your kitchen would have to be below 65*, and your heavy cream starting out at 33* in order to make ice cream in 20 minutes.

This would be an interesting experiment for the science fair...