why does ice get colder when you add salt?

Question

how does this happen?

Answer 1

Salt interferes with the hydrogen bonding of the ice, but the energy to break the bonds comes from the ice which melts faster and gets colder.

Answer 2

To understand why the water/ ice mixture gets colder when salt is added we need to remember that as ice molecules melt they absorb energy from the mixture by causing the water molecules to slow down.

Equally, when water freezes to the ice it gives up its energy and in so doing causes the surrounding molecules to speed up a little, or in other words get hotter. In a pure water/ice mixture the rate of both processes is equal so the mixture doesn't heat up or get colder.

When salt is added the rate of melting stays the same and therefore so does the rate of energy being absorbed from the mixture. But, the rate of water molecules freezing to the ice is reduced and therefore so is the amount of energy being released by this process.

Net result: more melting than freezing means that more energy is being absorbed by the mixture than is being released to it. Net result: the mixture gets colder.

Answer 3

Same reason ocean water freezes at lower than 0 deg C, the ionized salt interferes with the crystallization process. So more energy has to be removed from the salt water before crystallization can begin. It's a physical chemistry thing.

In fact, impure water in general will freeze at lower than 0 deg C temperatures. A major reason for adding antifreeze (some form of glycol) in our car radiators is to take advantage of this physical chemistry effect on water.

Answer 4

It doesn't get colder it just becomes a liquid that is the same temp as the ice giving the appearance of being colder.

Answer 5

becouse adding salt, u change the melting point...
and not true it's getting colder, u just have moved the melting point at lower temperature, and when it's melting the temperature will not rise more untill all the ice will be melted...
same thing on the countrary, salted water don't became ice at 0 degrees, but at alower temperature, and that's why they use salt on iced streets...

Answer 6

Salt actually lowers the freezing point of water so it can exist as a liquid at a few degrees below 0 C. This is the same thing that occurs when salt is added to boiling water, it causes the boiling point to increase, allowing the water to be hotter as a liquid. I believe this is called freezing point depression/boiling point elevation.

Answer 7

It doesn't get colder it just becomes a liquid.. i agree with the one whoo answered before em(the same my answer)

Answer 8

the freezingpoint ofbrine(water+salt)is lower than of pure wateralso melting point of solidified brine is lower than that of pure ice.

Answer 9

The solution of salt is an endothermic process.