Water: The Role Of Salt In Ice

Ice is something we use and see every day, whether it is a block in our freezer or an icicle hanging from our roof. Ice is an important, yet subtle, part of our world. Ice is most commonly used to cool down our drinks and if you have ever noticed that ice in different shapes melt at different rates, then you are on to something. Ice with greater surface areas melt faster than ice with lesser surface areas.

Imagine a world with no trees, no healthy grass, no glaciers, or no living creatures at all. The cause of this tragedy could be the increase in heat in the Earth’s atmosphere due to global warming. If global warming continues to increase, the world will be left empty. The Earth has been around for a long time, and many feet have walked on it, but no one has walked on this Earth without trees, grass, or creatures. With global warming, the Earth’s meteorology gets too warm, and all of the glaciers will start to melt. Global warming occurs when an increase in the carbon dioxide levels causes the temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere to rise. The Earth’s meteorology is often a subject explored in literature. For example, “Chronicles of Ice” talks

I have lived in a place that during the winter, ice would form on the streets and sidewalks and have wondered why things such as salt or sand are used over other methods to help de-ice the surfaces? Why is salt or sand the most commonly used substances when addressing this issue?

The first part of the lab began by one lab member adding 10.0 mL of DI water to a test tube while another lab member obtained a beaker full of ice and salt. After both these steps were complete the test tube was put in the beaker full of ice. Immediately following the test tube be being placed in the beaker, a temperature probe was inserted into the test tube. The initial temperature was recorded and after the temperature was recorded in 30 second increments. Once the water exhibited supercooling and then remained consistent at .1 °C for 3 readings it was determined that the water had froze and formed crystals. Evidence that crystals formed allowed for it to be confirmed that the water actually hit freezing point at .0

Salt is known to be used on icy roads in certain areas of the country in the winter season to help clear roadways to make them safer for travel. Salt causes a reaction that lowers the freezing point of water. In this experiment we will test this method of applying salt to ice to see if for certain this is true, and how much faster the salt melts if so. In this experiment, the Independent Variable will be adding Salt to the ice and the Dependent variable will be the time it takes the ice to melt.

Saltation is a geological term used to explain how a stream current transports and erodes a rock. The rock starts out as a sharp, coarse edged fragment on a stream bed. The current then lifts the rock from the stream bed and transports it down stream. The current, which rotates and spins the rock, slowly smoothes its edges. In saltation, a counter current or other events causes the rock to slam against the stream-bed and grind its ruff edges into a smooth exterior. Eventually after it is lifted off the bed, the current adds the finishing touch. A rock which travels in a stream will always be eroded into a smooth sphere, but a rock that undergoes the process of saltation will always be more quickly eroded.

In other words, it takes less energy to raise the temperature of the salt water 1°C than pure water. And in the winter time, adding salt to the ice lowers its freezing point, so even more energy has to be absorbed from the environment in order for it to melt.

In salt, there are more particles in 10 grams of sodium chloride (salt) than in 10 grams of sucrose (sugar). When there are more particles, melting will occur faster. When there is one type of molecule, say water, it is easier for the molecules to get in an orderly manner to become solid water, or ice. When other types of molecules are added, the water molecules lose their order and it becomes harder to be frozen. Therefore, when there are more particles of a different type, then the freezing point will become lower.

Explanation (20 min): The teacher and students will discuss the results of the ice cube experiment. Lecture about the salinity and subsurface topography. Discuss a misconception about the relationship between salinity and temperature of the oceans.

The best and most widely researched alternative to rock salt is a product called calcium magnesium acetate. This product is different from rock salt because it “chemically breaks down snow and ice as it moves downward from the surface” (Washburn). Where rock salt is differs because it is used to break the bond between the road and the snow. Once this bond is broke it turns the snow into a type of brine which is move to the sides of the roads by snow plows and your car’s tires. (Commonwealth) With salt being moved by your cars tiers there is splash back onto the bottom surface of your vehicle, and onto anything nearby. This causes salt to be plastered all over the bottom of your car, and also pushes the excess to the sides of the road.

This is know as a passive piercement. Although sediment can accumulate on top of the salt dome it will tend not to cover it and they generally continue to be exposed and rise at the same speed as the surrounding rock.

What causes the melting of glaciers is global warming and the heat which is continuing to rise. Global warming is causing the heat to rise over these years, because we are burning more fossil fuels and greenhouse gases, which invent more heat that gets trapped in the atmosphere of earth. The three sources that contributes to the problem I’m investigating are: The Consequences of Global Warming on Glaciers and and Sea Levels, Global Warming puts the arctic in thin ice, and lastly Global Warming is causing rain to melt the Greenland ice sheet.

Ice is a very slippery solid form of water and salt usually used usually to melt the salt. The reason salt melts the ice is because salt lowers the temperature for freezing ice so as the salt covers the ice the freezing point of the ice gets lowered (Holt, Rinehart, And Winston 2004). What is the best salt for lowering the freezing temperature of ice. The independent variable is all the different salts we are using, the dependent variable is the time in minutes that it will take to melt the ice. The constant is that for each ice cube we will use 10 grams to melt each ice cube. The control is the time in minutes it will take to melt the salt if there is no salt.

As fresh water freezes, it forces the salt out. When seawater freezes, the salt is forced out of the ice in a process called "brine exclusion". Therefore, sea ice is essentially fresh water (Worster, 1992). The removed salt increases the salinity

An Ice Age is a period of geologic time in which the Earth’s climate sees a dramatic drop in temperatures. This basically means that it is a lot cooler than it was in different parts of earth’s geologic history. As a matter of fact, earth is believed to be in the middle of a glaciation period currently because of our polar ice sheets. As we know it today there were about six ice ages that have occurred throughout the history of the earth. Glaciation periods have helped shape the earth as we know it today and has helped humanity progress down its evolutionary track. Though it is agreed upon that several ice ages have occurred during earth history, the cause of these cycles is still a mystery waiting to be solved.