Sophia Vines Honors Chemistry Period 3 Group 1 September 30, 2016 Topic: Ice Melting Alternatives Background Research Since salt is an effective way to melt ice that is harmful to the environment, the objective of this experiment is to find a more eco-friendly alternative. For this experiment, the scientist will find out how effective sugar and fertilizer are at melting ice compared to table salt. The independent variable is the different de-icing agent (salt, sugar and fertilizer.) The dependent variable is how much the ice melts in mL. The control variable is the ice cubes melting without any aid and the constants are the same batch of ice cubes, the same refrigerator, using the same measuring cup and the same graduated cylinder. The scientist will test the hypothesis, if sugar is used to the ice cubes, then it will melt more of the ice than the fertilizer. The experiment will be conducted by having three ice cubes in each of the four bowls, three of which will have a de-icing agent (salt, sugar and fertilizer) …show more content…
During the process of researching, the scientist found out that colligative properties go hand in hand with freezing point depression. According to Perdue University, “by definition, one of the properties of a solution is a colligative property if it depends only on the ratio of the number of particles of the solute and the solvent in the solution, not the identity of the solute,” (Perdue University). A good example of colligative properties was from Richard Myers’ book, The Basics of Chemistry, which brought up an ice cream analogy. “Anyone who has ever made ice cream knows that the addition of rock salt to ice cream causes it to melt and produce a liquid - ice solution below 0°C. This is just one example of how the physical properties of a solution differ from those of a pure solvent, (Myers,