Does Salt Melt the Ice or Make Ice Colder?

Salt. What exactly is salt? Well the most common answer we know is, it is the neutralization product of acid and base. Salt definition is legitimately clear but still what is salt. I mean by its properties and stuff.

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Salt is a cubic thing, perfectly cubic and hard as well. Many things, I mean everything that melts something doesn't freeze that thing. For an instance, fire. It melts the solid but it doesn't freezes the liquid. Passing water over ice will of course melt the ice, not freeze it. Refrigerator freezes the water, not melts the ice. Get it?

Now what salt does to the ice? Will it make ice even harder and colder or make it melt to liquid?

Look around and grab a pack of simple ice and take some salt. Mix them in a air tight bag and shake vigorously. I bet, u can't hold the mixture for more than 10 seconds. Its too cold for your body and hand to hold it for long. 

So first thing's first, this condition works. Salt makes ice colder!

Until when you go to some cold areas, no need to mentions those. There you will have a conflict with me for what i made your mind to think. People over there use salt to melt ice into liquid for a purpose to clear roads for traffic, BUT MELT THE ICE! Does this even make some sense. Well of course salt is used to cool the ice, but melt the ice?

Let me get this straight, yeah that's true. We use that on purpose! Conflicted?

Get along, i'll explain. Focus on Melting Point as a keyword. There is no way we can change the laws of nature but that nature gives us some striking things which may sound weird but no law is violated. 

Salt melting ice

Suppose that, you live in an area which has a perfectly controlled cold temperature. The most common cold temperature, 0° Celsius, just the perfect temperature to turn all water into ice. If you sprinkle salt on it, which is thereby the most common impurity, it will lower the melting point. So now, focus, ice doesn't match any of the requirements to be frozen again because it needs now more colder atmosphere to freeze, as salt has lowered the melting point of ice. So for the current temperature, that is 0° Celsius, ice will melt to liquid. But if you touch that liquid, you will get a burn because that liquid is way colder than normal liquid water.

Go on, search on YouTube: Ice and Salt Challenge

Conclusion and Scientific Reason

Salt here acts as an impurity, and whenever an impurity is added to any substance,  it would lower the melting point of that substance. Remember that melting point is the same as freezing point. So salt lowers down the melting point of ice and it becomes colder. The end resulted liquid is way colder.

Still mad? Question us in comment section. By the way, Thanks for reading :)

Zain Ul Mustafa

Cakes, conspiracies, and computers are my daily pills.

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