| The Effect of Dissolved Salt and Sugar on the Melting Rate of Ice | |
Researched by Michelle C.
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The purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of dissolved salt and sugar on the melting rate of ice.
I became interested in this idea when my brother froze salt and water. The results made me wonder if other substances would have the same results.
The information gained from this experiment would help those in the food industry know how salt and sugar content would affect frozen foods.
My first hypothesis was that pure water would melt slower than water with impurities.
My second hypothesis was that the more impurities in the water the faster it would melt.
I based my hypotheses on The World Book Encyclopedia that states, “Water which contains impurities freezes at lower temperatures than pure water.”
The constants in this study were:
* Amount of liquid in each ice “cube”
* Time in freezer
* Shape of ice cubes
* Size of cups
* Kind of cup
* Room temperature for melting
The manipulated variable was the amount of solute dissolved in the water.
The responding variable was the amount of time it took for the ice to melt.
To measure the responding variable I determined the time in minutes it took for them to melt in minutes.
| QUANTITY | ITEM DESCRIPTION |
| 45 | 100 ml plastic cups |
| 111 | Grams of salt |
| 111 | Grams of sugar |
| 2,889 | ml of Distilled water |
| 1 | Freezer |
| 1 | Room (room temperature) |
| 1 | Funnel |
| 1 | stopwatch |
| 1 | data table |
| 3 | 100 ml graduated cylinders |
| 3 | funnels |
1. Create three concentrations of salt solution:
a. Measure 100 g. of table salt on a triple beam balance.
b. Measure 900 ml. of distilled water using a graduated cylinder
c. Pour salt into the distilled water and stir until dissolved.
d. Label this as “10% salt”
e. Repeat steps 1a ? 1d except use 10 g. of salt and 990 ml.-distilled
water. Label as “1% salt”
f. Repeat steps 1a ? 1d except use 1 g. of salt and 999 ml.-distilled
water. Label as “0.1% salt”
2. Create three concentrations of sugar solution
a. Repeat all of step 1 except use granulated sugar instead of salt
b. Label each with the word “sugar” instead of “salt.”
3. Make pure water ice cubes
a. Pour 100 ml. of distilled water into a small paper cup.
b. Label “Control #1”
c. Repeat 3a -3b four more times except number the cups appropriately:
Control #2 ? Control #5
4. Make salt solution ice cubes
a. Pour 100 ml. of 10% salt solution into a small paper cup.
b. Label “Salt 10% #1”
c. Repeat 4a - 4b four more times except number the cups appropriately:
“Salt 10% #2”, etc.
d. Repeat 4a - 4c using 1% salt solution and labeling appropriately
“Salt 1% #1”, etc.
e. Repeat 4a - 4c using 0.1% salt solution and labeling appropriately
“Salt 0.1% #1”, etc.
5. Make sugar solution ice cubes by following steps 4a ? 4e except
a. Use the correct sugar solutions
b. Label all with the word “Sugar” instead of “Salt”
6. Freeze all cups for at least 24 hours.
7. Conduct melting test with pure water ice cubes.
a. Put a funnel into a 100 ml graduated cylinder.
b. Repeat 7a four more times.
c. Take all 5 of the pure water ice cups out of the freezer and set
out in room temperature.
d. Invert each cup into a separate funnel.
e. Start the electronic timer.
f. Every 15 minutes measure the volume of melted liquid in each of
the graduated cylinders
g. Record time and volume in data table for each cup.
h. Repeat steps 7f ? 7g until all 5 cups of ice melt totally.
8. Conduct melting test with salt solution ice cubes
a. Repeat 7a-7h with the 10% salt solution ice
b. Repeat 7a-7h with the 1% salt solution ice
c. Repeat 7a-7h with the 0.1% salt solution ice
9. Repeat melting test with sugar solution ice cubes by repeating step
8 except using the 3 concentrations of sugar solution.
10. Average the results for each group.
The original purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of dissolved salt and sugar on the melting rate of ice.
The results of the experiment were that pure water melted the slowest with an average of 401 minutes. The 0.1% sugar ice cubes melted in 365minutes, the 1% sugar in 339 minutes, and the 10% sugar in 189minutes. The 0.1% salt ice cubes with melted in 341 minutes, the 1% in 373minutes and the 10% in 228.4 minutes. So the sugar ice cubes did melt faster than salt ice cubes, except with 0.1% impurities in them.
See the table and graphs below.
My first hypothesis was that pure water would melt slower than water
with impurities.
My second hypothesis was that the more impurities in the water
the faster it would melt.
The results indicate that my first hypothesis should be accepted, because the pure water ice cubes melted slower than water with impurities, the pure water melted in an average of 402 minutes, but with impurities they melted around 350 minutes. My second hypothesis should also be accepted because the more impurities in the ice cubes the faster they melted, the 10% average sugar was 189 minutes, and the water was 402 minutes.
Because of the results of this experiment, I wonder if the ice cubes, melting rate would be affected if I put them in a warmer or colder room during melting
If I were to conduct this project again I would use hot water instead of cold water to dissolve the impurities completely, use more concentrations like, 10%, 5%, 2.5%, 1.25%, .625%.
I would like to thank the following people for helping make my project
possible:
* My parents for buying my supplies and supporting me.
* I would also like to thank Mr.Newkirk and and Mrs.Helms for all of
their endless hard work.
* I would also like to thank Mr. Arambul for allowing me to use his
supplies.
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