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It's not quite as straightforward as "yes it does" / "no it doesn't." There's a temperature at which it's too cold for salt to work, and a great deal of the ben
by pc86 6y ago
It's not quite as straightforward as "yes it does" / "no it doesn't." There's a temperature at which it's too cold for salt to work, and a great deal of the benefit of salt comes from friction as cars drive over it, crushing pieces of ice and forming that slush we all know and love, even at temperatures where it won't actually melt the ice.
- ink_13 6y ago> There's a temperature at which it's too cold for salt to work Sure, brine has a freezing point. > a great deal of the benefit of salt comes from friction as cars drive over it, crushing pieces of ice and forming that slush we all know and love, even at temperatures where it won't actually melt the ice. What do you think slush is? It has liquid in it, and that's not molten salt.
- skynet-9000 6y ago> a great deal of the benefit of salt comes from friction as cars drive over it You may have never tossed a handful of rock salt on steps that have a quarter-inch of ice on them and watch holes actually form in the ice within a half hour or so.
- Green_man 6y agoOn thin ice, you can watch it form in real time!
- jjk166 6y agoAgain, it's temperature dependent. Salt lowers the freezing point of water about 4 degrees (either units). Typically when it snows, it is close to freezing (if warmer it would rain, if much colder there wouldn't be enough moisture in the air for precipitation) so adding salt will melt the ice, but there's plenty of time when it's not in that narrow temperature range.