Why does salt “melt” ice but freeze ice cream?

Question

A student asked me this today. I understand that salt doesn’t actually melt ice, but lowers its melting temp, but how do I explain this to a child?

In: 3

Answer 1

You don’t put the salt in the ice cream, you put it on the ice. Ice melts by absorbing heat. The salt makes it absorb heat faster by altering the melting temperature thereby cooling the ice cream down faster.