This winter has been filled with so much rain and snow. I started wondering what the difference is between the salt they place on icy roads and the salt you use to make homemade ice cream?
Is it the same kind of salt? What does the salt on the road do? Does it help with friction or melt the ice?
I thought the salt mixed with ice, to make ice cream, makes the freeze temperature lower?
I’m confused…
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> what the difference is between the salt they place on icy roads and the salt you use to make homemade ice cream?
There isn’t necessarily a difference, but usually the salt you would make ice cream with is going to be cleaner. Much of the salt we use for roads is mined because it is cheaper to produce that way, but such salt is dirty because it is mixed with sand and rock dust. This is fine when you are just throwing it on the road since it is just more traction, but when you are churning ice cream may people don’t want a gray sludge in their bucket.
> What does the salt on the road do?
Salt mixes with the water and lowers the freezing temperature of water. This helps to melt the ice on the road, allowing it to just flow away.
> I thought the salt mixed with ice, to make ice cream, makes the freeze temperature lower?
This is also why it is used to make ice cream. By lowering the freezing temperature the brine is below the freezing temperature of fresh water and can freeze the ice cream you are making. You need to keep adding ice because as it transitions to a fluid it pulls heat out of the brine to keep it colder than the ice cream.
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