Eli5. Salt melts ice. Glaciers sit in an ocean of salt. Glaciers don’t melt.
In: Earth Science
Salt is a solute, which when added to water (ice in this case) lowers its freezing point.
The freezing point of water is 0 degrees on Celsius scale. Addition of salt will lower its freezing point, to some negative temperature.
The geological locations where Glaciers exist, the temperatures are way below 0 degrees. So even though the freezing point of ice is lower, the temperature is still lower than the final freezing point of the salt-water solution, hence it tends to remain in the solid state.
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I think glaciers are melting. I was told it’s because of global heating but I think you’re on to something here
Salt doesn’t necessarily melt ice, it just lowers the freezing point of the water that composes the ice, meaning that water has to reach a lower temperature in order to freeze. My guess is that the oceans in the Arctic and Antarctic are so cold, that it negates the effect of the salt on the ice, but I’m not a scientist or anything
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