The Effect of Dissolved Salt and Sugar on Melting Rate of Ice

Section: S18 Group Number: 4 Members: Duke Delos Santos, Kristine Kalaw, Arneil Leonin, Adrian Magtoto, Nigel Bias, Kurt Ong, Joane Ordinanza, Victor Sebastian, Marie Sy bacterial growth. So, the faster the ice melts, the faster the bacterial growth. The purpose of this experiment is to determine the effect of impurities (i.e. salt, sugar, etc.) on the melting rate of ice. The group wants to know if adding salt or sugar in water and freezing it would have an effect on its melting rate since salt and sugar are one of the most commonly used preservatives. Knowing this could possibly help those in the food industry know how the salt and sugar content would affect frozen foods.

ABSTRACT
The purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of dissolved salt and sugar on the melting rate of ice. The knowledge obtained from this experiment can help those people currently in the food industry or planning to be in the food industry to have better knowledge on how salt and sugar affect frozen goods. Our hypothesis was that the water with impurities melting rate is faster than that of pure water. For this experiment, three set ups were made. Each set up contains three different solutions. Plastic cups were used to contain these solutions. Each cup has a hundred milliliter of water. One of the cups has a tablespoon of salt. The other one has a tablespoon of sugar. The last one will be the control variable of the experiment. All the nine plastic cups were placed in the refrigerator for at least twenty four hours. After twenty four hours, the cups were placed on room temperature for the melting test. Observations were recorded on the following times: after an hour, an hour and a half, and after two hours. The set ups with the pure water had little bits of ice left in them. Meanwhile, the other solutions with salt and with sugar had totally turned into their liquid state. With the following observations, the group has concluded that water with impurities melt faster than that of pure water. Keywords: melting rate, impurities, room temperature, time, state

PROBLEM STATEMENT
Does the presence of impurities such as salt or sugar affect the melting rate of ice? The problem statement comes from after reading the following sources:

http://www.worsleyschool.net/science/files/ saltandfreezing/ofwater.html http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/ 101/solutions/faq/why-salt-melts-ice.shtml http://www.ehow.com/facts_5764444_sugarmelt-ice_.html

HYPOTHESIS
We believe that ice with impurities will melt faster than an ice without impurities. When water freezes, it forms a crystal structure, and with the presence of impurities, the freezing water cannot attain the crystal structure and this causes the change in melting rate.

INTRODUCTION
Freezing food slows down decomposition by turning water into ice, making it unavailable for most

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The following are the sources that support the hypothesis of the group: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index? qid=20081116140621AAt63Td http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice

will be reached, if it isnt in that state. And the temperature decides all that. The equilibrium point itself, and the time the reaction will take to reach equilibrium. Here, the three setups differ only by the amount of solute in it. And, appropriately, they only differ in the speed they reached equilibrium. There were different solutes, different reactants, and the time they took to reach equilibrium were varied. Thats an adequateenough explanation. There were no extra-scientific factors that affected the experiment nor some other ocial or economic or even personal considerations that played a role in the experiment. Since the experiment was just to prepare full cups of the three samples each of the three samples of pure water and the impurities, and just freezing them for 24 hours, When its time, its just taken out and let them melt either on under the sun or just in our own living room, as long as they have the same temperature. With that, theres no factor that has affected this experiment.

PROCEDURE
For this experiment, three set ups are to be made. Each set up will be placed in a plastic cup and have a 100 ml of water. With proper labeling, set up A will be the controlled variable; Set up B will be mixed with a tablespoon of salt; Set up C will be mixed with a tablespoon of sugar. Another two batches of these will be made then place all the set ups in the refrigerator overnight. Once frozen, The set ups are ready for the melting test. The set ups are to be placed in room temperature. Observations must be recorded taking note of the time as well.

RESULTS
After the first hour, all the set ups melted but the salt solution and sugar solution set ups have greater portion of ice melted based on the amount of liquid water in the cup. After an hour and a half, the salt solution and sugar solution set ups were left with a smaller chunk of ice than of the pure water set ups. After two hours, the salt solution and sugar solution set ups were completely melted meanwhile the control variable still had bits of ice even after two hours.

CONCLUSIONS
Based on the conducted experiment, our group therefore concludes that our hypothesis stated above which was having impurities in the water does affect the melting rate of ice. It was shown in the experiment (see the video), that the salt solution and sugar solution ice melted faster than the pure water ice. Also, they were frangible and easily damaged compared to the pure water ice.

DISCUSSION
The expected resultant entities are real, basically because it happened. It was there, visible through our own eyes and that can be seen through our video records. We saw it happen; we observed that the sample ices melted with and without impurities. As hypothesized by the group, the salt-water ice cubes melted fastest among the other samples. Do they really exist? Yes. Because there is no logical explanation on why the results would disprove the unchangeable phenomenon that had already happened and what has been already concluded and shown and done by the same procedures made by the group. The explanation of the phenomenon heavily relies on the law of thermodynamics, the one that equilibrium

REFERENCE LIST
Worsley School. (1996). Salt and the freezing point of water. Retrieved from http:// w w w. w o r s l e y s c h o o l . n e t / s c i e n c e / f i l e s / saltandfreezing/ofwater.html Senese, F. (2010, 02 10). General chemistry online. Retrieved from http://antoine.frostburg.edu/ chem/senese/101/solutions/faq/why-salt-meltsice.shtml eHow.com. (2011). Why does sugar melt ice? Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/ facts_5764444_sugar-melt-ice_.html C., M. (2004). The effect of dissolved salt and sugar on the melting rate of ice. Retrieved from

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http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/soar/sciproj2004/ MichelleC.html Wikipedia. (2011). Ice. Retrieved from http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice

De La Salle University College of Liberal Arts - Science Fair Project Final Report