8Fe3 Salty ice

In this experiment you will be investigating the effect of adding salt on the melting point of ice.

Prediction
1 What is the melting point of pure ice?
2 What do you think will happen to the melting point when salt is added?
3 Will the amount of salt make a difference? If so, what difference will it make?

Planning
4 How will you measure the temperature? What range of temperatures will you need your
thermometer to cover?
5 How much ice might be a sensible amount to use?
6 What form of ice will you use? Would it be best to have one large lump, smaller cubes,
crushed ice, or a ‘slush’ mixture of ice with some water? Explain your choice.
7 Do you need to measure the amount of salt? If so, how will you do it?
8 How much salt do you think you need to add in total? How many different readings are you
going to take?

Recording your results

9 Record your results in a suitable table. Don’t forget to include the correct units and headings
for the table columns.
10 Draw a line graph of your results.

Considering your results/conclusions

11 Describe what happens when salt is added to ice. Does the amount of salt affect the melting
point?
12 Explain how this effect is used on roads and paths in winter.
13 Is it possible to predict what would happen if you kept on adding more and more salt?
Explain your answer.

Evaluation
14 Was this a fair test?
15 Are you confident of your conclusions? Explain why, by looking at your graph or results
table.
16 Were there any ‘odd’ results that didn’t fit in, or did they all fit with the main trend?
17 Can you suggest any improvements to the apparatus, or to your plan?

[ planning, observing, presenting, considering, evaluating ]

Adapted from Exploring Science QCA Copymaster File 8 © Pearson Education Limited 2003