Why do freezies eventually end up just a chunk of flavourless ice bathed in mostly not-frozen flavoured syrup?
In: Chemistry
Have you ever been told to “salt the water so it boils faster” when making pasta? Bare with me here:
**if you add salt (or sugar) to water it gets hotter faster.** Notice I didn’t say it boils faster. That’s just an old wives tale. Realistically, it takes the same amount of time with or without salt (or sugar)
Adding anything to make a solution (more than just pure water) *raises* the boiling temperature, but decreases the amount of heat the molecules can hold before exploding into a gas, bouncing all over the room through the air. Boiling doesn’t just mean hot, boiling means the water is so energetic it’s molecules are fighting the bonds keeping them from becoming a gas. Salt makes it harder for the water to enter the gas phase, but easier for the overall solution to gain heat energy. The reason for this, and what you are describing are the same **because** boiling and freezing are opposites. But boiling and melting are moving in the same direction (solid > liquid > gas)
“Not water” particles mixed with water particles change the ~~chemical~~ physical properties of the water itself. The result is a higher boiling point, **but also** a lower freezing point. Remember when we said that it’s easier for the solution to gain heat energy? Yes, the freezing point is lower, and yes your freezie is technically frozen at a lower temperature than ice, but it also melts faster than regular ice.
E.g. ***bottom line:*** the reason the regular, flavorless ice is left behind is because the ice with flavoring in it melts faster than pure water.
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