• Question: Why didn't the salty water ice cubes freeze sarah?

    Asked by meg123 to Sarah on 22 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Sarah Martin

      Sarah Martin answered on 22 Jun 2012:


      Hi meg,

      because salt interferes with the freezing of water! It lowers the temperature at which water freezes, as the salt has to separate out first. That’s why you don’t get sea ice until much lower temperatures than lake ice! And your freezer just isn’t cold enough. That’s also why we grit roads with salt, so the ice melts on them!

      Here’s a very cool video showing how sea ice forms in very very cold water under the ice in the Antarctic:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vYGQ9Vix44

      🙂 Sarah

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