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Why I Love Salt!
Posted on 9th Feb 2011 | In Science With Mom! Blog
Will this winter ice and snow ever end?! I know it’s Christmassy and all that (well, maybe not in February) but slipping on an icy sidewalk just takes the joy out of snow.
The side walks where I live are like ice skating rinks. Whoo-hoo! But not much fun without ice-skates (think fractured ribs).
Anyway, I got to thinking about how I would use the ice and snow for some bite-size science experiment fun for kids. I was racking my brains when Ali spotted some city council guy with a shovel and bag of salt and she yells “Why is that man sprinkling stuff on the sidewalk?”
Bingo! I’ll do a science experiment with fabulous SALT.
Plain ole Salt
What’s so great about SALT?! Salt is the only substance to produce one of the four main taste sensations (salty, sweet, sour and bitter) Unique in her taste she likes to be known by her stage name; Sodium Chloride. She (salt) is produced either as sea-salt by evaporating sea water, or as rock-salt, dug from the ground.
Has Science With Mom! lost her mind? Why am I referring to common table salt as female?
I have no idea.
I do know she won’t appreciate being called “common”. And I also know that the atoms of salt make a star appearance on the periodic table as NaCl. Very cool.
In fact, salt tastes so good that she is present in high quantities in snack foods and processed meals. As a result poor ‘ole salt is always getting a bad rap for causing high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, cardiac enlargement, diabetes, ulcers, heartburn, excessive thirst, puffy ankles, yucky skin, baggy eyes, and even death.
WHOA!!!
I’ll never look at that salt cellar in quite the same way.
WHAT..what did I do???
However, today I’d like to talk about the positive attributes of salt.
More specifically, how salt lowers the freezing point. The benefit of this fabulous trait is it prevents us slipping on icy pavements and breaking our bones.
Here is a super quick kids science experiment you can do to prove this point in the elementary classroom or on the kitchen table for homeschool.
Aim:
To show that salt lowers the freezing point.
Stuff you’ll need:
Two small plastic bottles
Salt
Water
What to do:
1. Fill both bottles with water
2. Put two tablespoons of salt in one of the bottles.
3. Place both bottles in the freezer for a few hours.
What’s the deal?
The bottle with just the water (on the left) is frozen solid. Rock Solid. The bottle with the salt added (on the right) is not frozen solid but rather is a slushy kind of frozen liquid.
So this tells us that salt stops water from freezing so that’s why that man was putting salt on the sidewalk. What a nice man! Now I won’t slip and break my leg…yay!
Now, I defy you to find a quicker, easier science experiment to do with your kids.
Note to self: This information is good to know if Science With Mom! ever decides to make some ice-cream (hint, hint)
I was also curious to know; what point salt lowers the freezing point to.
A quick Google and I discover that the general freezing point of water is 32 degrees Fahrenheit or 0 degrees Celcius. So a 10% solution freezes at -6 C (20F) and a 20% solution freezes at -16C. So it seems the more salt you add to water, the lower the freezing point goes. Wow! Salt really is amazing. It can help you make ice-cream, make your dinner taste better (but not too much) and can help you from breaking your leg! So come back salt, all is forgiven.
That’s it for today. I’m off to the emergency room with a fractured wrist…they forgot to salt outside my office.. (just kidding!)
Science With Mom!
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interesting, Science Mom. I know we have salt in our bodies, but I still very cold, and know that people can freeze to death! is it a different kind of salt or not enough ratio to blood fluids to keep us from becoming a Popsicle?
~Faythe ~@ GMT~
thanks for stopping by & commenting at my blog. I have always loved science. Now I found a great place to share it with my grandsons
Became aware of your blog thru Google, and find it really informative. I’ll be back!
Sea-salt ice-cream is big in Japan! Apparently, salt can accentuate the sweetness a food. Hey, like I said, Science With Mom! loves salt. Some of my friends put salt on Watermelon and it tastes fantastic! When you put salt in cream, it has the same kind of effect, giving a delicious mixture of sweet, salty and sour.
But you’re right. Less fat is always good. So if you could acquire a taste of slightly sour-salty ice-cream we could save on calories too. But still, probably doesn’t taste nearly as good as full-fat ice cream. I guess that’s shy Ben and Jerry’s don’t have a salt flavour.
Science With Mom!
I like the valuable info you provide.
Cool, does that mean we could make slushies by adding a little salt to flavored sweetened water and stick it in the freezer
I know you can add a little rubbing alcohol to water to keep it from freezing solid in order to make a formable ice pack. So guessing salt a has a similar affect. That has me wondering if we could use a little salt rather than so much fat to make low calorie icecream because without all the fat milk freezes hard like a popicle, so if a little salt would keep it from getting so hard that might be a soloution.