Does an ice cube melt faster in saltwater or fresh water?

Answer 1

Salt water: because salt lowers the freezing point of water, less water will freeze onto the ice cube, while the same amount of ice will dissolve into the water. This means that overall, the salt water will thaw it quicker.

we recantly did a experiment in science class where there was a bucket of salt water and a bucket of fresh water (same temperatures) and in each bucket was an ice cube the ice cube in the fresh water melted faster because in salt water there are more perservatives and has more minerals therefore it is more dense and the ice will float closer to the top while the ice cube in the fresh water floats more lower. but i could be wrong

Answer 2

Salt Water

That is rubbish. Salt crystals may be spread onto ice to melt it (causing a drop in temperature too). A mixture of crushed ice and salt is commonly used as a "freezing mixture" in the laboratory. However, a lump of ice (of a given mass and temperature) will not melt at any appreciably different rate in a bath of salty water than in a bath of fresh water at the same temperature. This is because the thermal conductivity of salty water is only very slightly greater than that of fresh water, but the thermal capacity of salty water is less than that of fresh water, so any effects due to these differences tend to cancel each other out. The main factor that would influence the rate of melting would be the temperature of the water bath.

Answer 3

salt melts ice faster than sand would because the salt forms a bond that uses all of the heat energy to melt the ice it surrounds by breaking apart the ice crystal bonds. also, salt lowers the freezing point temperature to melt the ice faster.

Answer 4

It melts faster in salt water

That is rubbish. Salt crystals may be spread onto ice to melt it (causing a drop in temperature too). A mixture of crushed ice and salt is commonly used as a "freezing mixture" in the laboratory. However, a lump of ice (of a given mass and temperature) will not melt at any appreciably different rate in a bath of salty water than in a bath of fresh water at the same temperature. This is because the thermal conductivity of salty water is only very slightly greater than that of fresh water, but the thermal capacity of salty water is less than that of fresh water, so any effects due to these differences tend to cancel each other out. The main factor that would influence the rate of melting would be the temperature of the water bath. Some experiments have shown that if the bath water is salty enough, the bath water is more dense than any cold, recently-melted water from the ice cube and thus there will be no convection currents which might carry heat away quicker than by conduction alone, from which the obvious conclusion is that the ice should melt quicker in fresh water.

Answer 5

a ice cube will melt in salt water quicker because salt decreases the melting point of ice (makes it harder to melt )

Answer 6

Yes, because sodium chloride (or calcium chloride, etc.) has a positive heat of dissolution.

Answer 7

Yes, but even quicker in hot water.