What Substance Makes Ice
Melt The Fastest?
By: Daniel Meyer
Science Period 5
Calcium Chloride
Problem
Sugar
Which Substance
Melts Ice The Fastest?
Rock Salt
Table Salt
Sand
Hypothesis
I hypothesis that Calcium Chloride will
melt Ice the fastest because when Calcium
Chloride comes in contact with Ice, an energy
is released. The energy that is released is
heat energy. One reason Calcium Chloride
melts Ice the fastest is because when the
reaction occurs, the heat energy that is
released helps melt the Ice along with the
other chemicals in the Calcium Chloride.
Background Info
On Rock Salt & Table Salt
• 2nd fastest Ice melting substance
• Both chemical formulas are NaCl
• Both are edible, just Rock Salt needs to be
made finer
• Can be harmful to plants
• Over 14,000 known uses for Salt
• Freezing / Melting point is 801°C
• Rock Salt is also called Halite
they are the same compound
Background Info On Sand
• Worn down rock
• Over millions of years rocks break down from
erosion until they are small enough to be
called Sand
• Boiling point is 2230°C
• Melting point is 1710°C
• Freezing point is 900-1200°C
Background Info On Sugar
•
•
•
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Melting point is 185°C (365°F)
Harvested from plants
Also known as “White Gold”
Also known as “Glucose” (found in all green
plants)
• In early times it was not plentiful and it was very
expensive
• More than 17 kinds of sugar
Background Info On Calcium Chloride
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Boiling point is 1600°C
Used in the manufacturing of legal drugs
Used to melt ice
Used in industry to remove moisture
CaCl2 is its chemical formula
When it comes in contact with ice it has a reaction
Heat energy is created (speeds up process)
Melting point is 772°C
Freezing point is 52°C
Materials Needed For The Experiment
• 24 3oz cups •
• 4tsp of
Calcium
•
Chloride, Rock
Salt, Sand, Su-•
gar, Table Salt •
• 36oz of water •
• Freezer
•
• Pad
•
½ teaspoon
measure
1 teaspoon
measure
Syringe
Timer
Pencil
Pad
Labels
Variables
• Variable- something that can change the results
in an experiment
• The substances I tested
Substances
Rock Salt
Calcium Chloride
Sugar
Table Salt
Sand
• Control- something that remain constant in an
experiment
• The 1.5oz frozen cup of water with no substance
on it was the control
Procedure
1. Fill 24 3oz. cups of water with 1.5oz of water
2. Freeze for an 8 hour period
3. Place 6 ice cups on the counter with a label for
each
4. Place 1 teaspoon of each substance on top of
the ice
5. Record the substance on the label
6. Repeat step 4 and 5 for the remaining
substances(except experiment #3, add ½)
7. Cup #6 will have no substance. This will be the
control.
Procedure Cont’d
8. Start timer for 10min
9. Record observations seen during the
experiment
10. After the 10 minute interval use the syringe
to measure the amount of melted ice in the
cup
11. Record amount of water in the syringe and
measure in ml.(milliliters)
12. Repeat steps 3 through 10 for each
experiment (3 more times)
Table Of My Data
Substance Time 1
Amount of
Substance
Used
1 tsp.
Calcium
Chloride
Time 2
Time 3
Time 4
1 tsp.
½ tsp.
1 tsp.
13ml
12ml
13ml
19ml
3ml
1ml
0ml
1ml
Table Salt
10ml
6ml
4ml
8ml
Rock Salt
7ml
5ml
5ml
7ml
Sugar
7ml
2ml
0.5ml
2ml
Control
3ml
1ml
0ml
2.5ml
Sand
Graph Of My Results
Amount
of
Water
In
ML
Number Of Experiment
My Graph Conclusions
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Calcium chloride melted the most ice the fastest
All together all the substances melted 128.5ml
Calcium Chloride melted a total of 57ml
Rock Salt melted a total of 27ml Substance Amount Of
Water Melted
Table Salt melted a total of 28ml
n ML
Calcium
57ml
Sand melted a total of 5ml
Chloride
Sand
5ml
Sugar melted a total of 11.5ml
Table Salt
28ml
Control melted a total of 6.5ml Rock Salt
38ml
Sugar
11.5ml
Control
8.5ml
Conclusion And Results
After reviewing the results of all the experiments
it has been observed that the amount of ice that
melted appeared to have a wide range of results.
There could be a number of reasons for the
conflicting results, but I hypothesize that the variable
that was previously discussed would be the reason
for the difference. After completing the experiments,
my original hypothesis that calcium chloride would
melt the ice fastest is correct. The reason is because
the calcium chloride produces a chemical reaction
when it comes in contact with water and produces
heat energy, which in turn makes the ice melt faster.
Some of the results of the experiment were very
interesting.
Cont’d
Conclusion And Results Cont’d
While sugar would never be considered an ice
melting substance, it in fact did melt a small
amount of ice. The other surprising factor is that
table salt melted more ice than rock salt. There is
one thing I would do differently in my experiment , I
would have made the time interval 5 min so it took
less time to do the experiments and I could have
more time to perfect the rest of my project. As a
future related experiment I would go outside in the
winter and pour water on my driveway. I would
have let it freeze and then I would add the
substances on the ice. One variable could be the
temperature outside. The question would be did it
melt more ice because there were more granules of
table salt, than of rock salt or of calcium chloride on
the top of the ice?
Works Sited Page
•Olph School, 8th Grade Science class, "Olphschool.org" <internalolphschool.org> January 27, 2010
Seneser, Fred, "Why does Salt melt ice?"
•General Chemistry online FAQ Solutions Why does salt melt ice,
<http://antoine.frostberg.edu/chem/senese/101/solutions/FAQ/why-salt-melts-ice.shtml> January 28, 2010
•"What makes ice melt fastest Do it Science!-science projects, science fair project, science tutorials, make models,
physics project, high school science projects, project ideas, do it science" <www.doitscience.com/2009/04/what-makesice-melt-fastest/ > January 27, 2010
•“How does sand melt ice?” March 12, 2010
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/how_does_sand_melt
•“how is sand formed?” top bits.com February 26,2010
http://www.topbits.com/how-sand-is-formed.htlm
•Morris, PHD, john “does salt come from evaporated sea water?” institute for creation
Research march 1, 2010 http://www.ice.org/articles/does-salt-come-from-evaporated-sea-water/
•Pasquesi, andy, “how does calcium chloride melt ice?” Ehow febuary 26,2010
http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5398442_calcium-chloride-melt-ice.htlm
•“the physical & theoretical chemistry lab @ oxford univ.” (september 17,2003)
January 28,2010 http://msds.chem.ox.ac.uk/sa/sand.html
•Seneser, fred, “why does salt melt ice?” general chemestry online FAQ solutions why does salt melt ice january 28,2010
<http://antidote.frostberg.edu/chem/senese/101/solutions/FAQ/why-salt-melts-ice.htlm