Why does salt melt ice?

Have you ever wondered why salt melts ice? In winter it is easy to meet on the street some vehicles that spread the salt or even ordinary citizens with their bags intent on distributing the contents on their path. Why they do it is easy to say: the salt serves to melt the snow, then preventing it - with the cold - to turn into ice.

But why does this happen? What is the mechanism that allows the salt to melt the ice? Let's find out together! It will always come in handy ... ice is best left to those who know how to skate on it and give us beautiful performances like this:

Why does salt melt ice?

Salt has a very special property: that of being able to lower the freezing point of water. What does it mean? That, in contact with salt, water freezes less quickly.

To understand how this mechanism works, you have to think that the salt molecules divide into ions and that the ions bind to the water molecules. When the temperature drops to below zero, the water begins to turn into ice, but the presence of ions can interfere. The individual ice crystals stop forming thanks to the salt ions and this means that the freezing point of the water is lowered.

Spreading salt on the snow causes the freezing point to drop, thus preventing ice from forming.

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It climbs the streets to melt ice and snow

When salt is sprinkled on the icy road, this happens: above the ice there is always a thin layer of water that escapes the crystals. When we add the salt, we prevent this water from turning into crystal as it normally would, making sure that there is always more that dissolves than that which is formed.

The salt that is scattered on the street can be of two types: sodium chloride, or calcium. The first is very normal kitchen salt, to be sprinkled on the streets before the ice forms, for preventive purposes. The second, on the other hand, has a greater effect and is used when ice or snow are already present.

Now that you know the mechanism, you can say goodbye to ice on the street and, why not, wear it as a very trendy shade on your hair ...