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Pepper would only melt ice in the presence of sunlight which would absorb into the pepper, warm up, and raise the temperature of the ice near to or touching the pepper. Coffee grounds, planting soil etc. would work the same way. On a larger size scale, tree trunks often have a hole around them where the snow has melted away, since the bark warms up in even feeble sunlight and radiates the heat into the snow.

Salt, on the other hand, combines with the ice (water) to produce a solution with a lower freezing point. This would melt the ice without sunlight, as long as the temperature stays above the new freezing point.

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16y ago

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