The purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of
dissolved salt and sugar on the melting rate of ice.
I became interested in this idea when my brother froze salt and water.
The results made me wonder if other substances would have the same results.
The information gained from this experiment would help those in the
food industry know how salt and sugar content would affect frozen foods.
My first hypothesis was that pure water would melt slower than water
My second hypothesis was that the more impurities in the water the faster
it would melt.
I based my hypotheses on The World Book Encyclopedia that states, “Water
which contains impurities freezes at lower temperatures than pure water.”
The constants in this study were:
* Amount of liquid in each ice “cube”
* Time in freezer
* Shape of ice cubes
* Size of cups
* Kind of cup
* Room temperature for melting
The manipulated variable was the amount of solute dissolved in the water.
The responding variable was the amount of time it took for the ice to
To measure the responding variable I determined the time in minutes
it took for them to melt in minutes.
||100 ml plastic cups
||Grams of salt
||Grams of sugar
||ml of Distilled water
||Room (room temperature)
||100 ml graduated cylinders
1. Create three concentrations of salt solution:
a. Measure 100 g. of table salt on a triple beam balance.
b. Measure 900 ml. of distilled water using a graduated cylinder
c. Pour salt into the distilled water and stir until dissolved.
d. Label this as “10% salt”
e. Repeat steps 1a ? 1d except use 10 g. of salt and 990 ml.-distilled
water. Label as “1% salt”
f. Repeat steps 1a ? 1d except use 1 g. of salt and 999 ml.-distilled
water. Label as “0.1% salt”
2. Create three concentrations of sugar solution
a. Repeat all of step 1 except use granulated sugar instead of salt
b. Label each with the word “sugar” instead of “salt.”
3. Make pure water ice cubes
a. Pour 100 ml. of distilled water into a small paper cup.
b. Label “Control #1”
c. Repeat 3a -3b four more times except number the cups appropriately:
Control #2 ? Control #5
4. Make salt solution ice cubes
a. Pour 100 ml. of 10% salt solution into a small paper cup.
b. Label “Salt 10% #1”
c. Repeat 4a - 4b four more times except number the cups appropriately:
“Salt 10% #2”, etc.
d. Repeat 4a - 4c using 1% salt solution and labeling appropriately
“Salt 1% #1”, etc.
e. Repeat 4a - 4c using 0.1% salt solution and labeling appropriately
“Salt 0.1% #1”, etc.
5. Make sugar solution ice cubes by following steps 4a ? 4e except
a. Use the correct sugar solutions
b. Label all with the word “Sugar” instead of “Salt”
6. Freeze all cups for at least 24 hours.
7. Conduct melting test with pure water ice cubes.
a. Put a funnel into a 100 ml graduated cylinder.
b. Repeat 7a four more times.
c. Take all 5 of the pure water ice cups out of the freezer and set
out in room temperature.
d. Invert each cup into a separate funnel.
e. Start the electronic timer.
f. Every 15 minutes measure the volume of melted liquid in each of
the graduated cylinders
g. Record time and volume in data table for each cup.
h. Repeat steps 7f ? 7g until all 5 cups of ice melt totally.
8. Conduct melting test with salt solution ice cubes
a. Repeat 7a-7h with the 10% salt solution ice
b. Repeat 7a-7h with the 1% salt solution ice
c. Repeat 7a-7h with the 0.1% salt solution ice
9. Repeat melting test with sugar solution ice cubes by repeating step
8 except using the 3 concentrations of sugar solution.
10. Average the results for each group.
The original purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect
of dissolved salt and sugar on the melting rate of ice.
The results of the experiment were that pure water melted the slowest
with an average of 401 minutes. The 0.1% sugar ice cubes melted in 365minutes,
the 1% sugar in 339 minutes, and the 10% sugar in 189minutes. The 0.1%
salt ice cubes with melted in 341 minutes, the 1% in 373minutes and the
10% in 228.4 minutes. So the sugar ice cubes did melt faster than salt
ice cubes, except with 0.1% impurities in them.
See the table and graphs below.
My first hypothesis was that pure water would melt slower than water
My second hypothesis was that the more impurities in the water
the faster it would melt.
The results indicate that my first hypothesis should be accepted, because
the pure water ice cubes melted slower than water with impurities,
the pure water melted in an average of 402 minutes, but with impurities
they melted around 350 minutes. My second hypothesis should also be accepted
because the more impurities in the ice cubes the faster they melted, the
10% average sugar was 189 minutes, and the water was 402 minutes.
Because of the results of this experiment, I wonder if the ice cubes,
melting rate would be affected if I put them in a warmer or colder room
If I were to conduct this project again I would use hot water instead
of cold water to dissolve the impurities completely, use more concentrations
like, 10%, 5%, 2.5%, 1.25%, .625%.
Water is a liquid that freezes and also melts at 32*F (0*C). Melting
and freezing points are temperatures when a solid substance turns to a
liquid. Liquid is a substance that is called a fluid because it flows to
fit its container.
Water is a liquid that is odorless, colorless, and tasteless. Water
freezes and melts at 32*F (0*C). As water freezes it expands by one-eleventh.
The amount of pressure on the water when it is freezing changes the melting
point. Water that reaches 40*F it is at its maximum density. The molecules
in water are always rapidly moving, until it gets cold and then they start
slowing down. Water can be in three different forms: liquid, gas, and solid.
Ice is a solid form of water. At 4*C, (39*F) water contracts and at
0*C it freezes. Ice has molecules that as it freezes move more slowly,
due to them moving apart. When it freezes it expands by one-eleventh and
then the ice becomes lighter than water, so it is able to float. Ice is
colorless, transparent, and has hexagon crystals. When the ice is in a
warm environment the ice melts layer by layer.
Sugar is most commonly use as a sweetener. It mostly comes from sugar
and sugar beat, and is in the class of carbohydrates. Sugar cane
are tall stalks and are about 7-15 feet high. The sugar is in the stalks
and the starch in them is broken down into sugar. The sugar is made by
crushing the stalks and squeezing out the sugar. Sugar is mostly grown
in warm temperature. There are two kinds of sugar, Monosaccharide, and
disaccharides. When they are pure they are white crystals. Monosaccharide
is the simplest carbohydrate and includes glucose and fructose Disaccharides
includes lactose and maltose but the most important one is sucrose.
Salt is normally used to flavor and store foods. Its chemical name
is sodium chloride and it comes from underground deposits. Salt and ice
mixed together lower the melting point, so 20% of all U.S. salt is used
to melt snow or ice off of roads. The United States uses 5% of salt on
food, in restaurants and in stores. There are many kinds of salt and rock
salt is one of them. Rock salt is found in hard layers underground. It
was made by evaporation of large amounts of ancient ocean water, it is
also found in every continent. The salt is found in formations called salt
domes, and is lighter than other minerals. The salt domes are formed when
rock salt flows through overlying rocks; water then dissolves the salt
to make brine. Another kind of salt is table salt. Table salt tends to
clump together at high humidity. Salt is odorless, colorless, and generally
Thermodynamics is the study of different forms of energy, such as heat
and work. Thermodynamics is made up of two main laws. The first law of
thermodynamics explains conservation of energy. In a closed system energy
cannot be created or destroyed, but it can be converted from one form to
another. For example, chemical energy in fuel can be change to heat
energy by a flame. The total amount of energy is always the same.
The second law of thermodynamics says that heat will flow from a hotter
item or substance to a less warm thing. An example would be melting ice.
Heat energy from the air flows into the outer surfaces of the ice, causing
those molecules to move faster. If the molecules move fast
enough, they change from the solid ice stage to the higher energy liquid
stage. We say that the ice is melting.
Melting point is the temperature when a solid turns to liquid. The
melting point is based on if the liquid is pure or a mixture. Pure substances
melt at the same temperature it freezes. Melting points are determined
by pure and mixture substances. Different crystals will melt at different
The freezing point is the temperature at which a liquid turns to solid.
The freezing point is different in liquids. Freezing point depends on the
pressure against it. The freezing point can be the same if the amount of
liquid and solid are the same.
Water is a very important thing to people and the world. It helps many
people and is very interesting for people to study,
Boehm, Robert F. “Thermodynamics” The World Book Encyclopedia 1998.
Chesick, John P. “Freezing Point” The World Book Encyclopedia 1998.
Chesick, John P. “Melting Point” The World Book Encyclopedia 1998.
Dean, Walter E. Jr. “Salt” The World Book Encyclopedia 1998.
Hartman, Robert F. “ Ice” The World book Encyclopedia 1998.
Martin, Richard A. “Liquid” The World Book Encyclopedia 1998.
Price, Jack and Heimler, Charles H. Physical Science. Mirril Publishing
“Water” Columbia Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia.com, November 20.2003.
Wyse, Roger E. “ Sugar” The World Book Encyclopedia 1998.
I would like to thank the following people for helping make my project
* My parents for buying my supplies and supporting me.
* I would also like to thank Mr.Newkirk and and Mrs.Helms for all of
their endless hard work.
* I would also like to thank Mr. Arambul for allowing me to use his
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