{"id":3195,"date":"2017-11-15T14:14:40","date_gmt":"2017-11-15T19:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aboutmpswr.wpengine.com\/?p=3195"},"modified":"2022-12-06T00:55:20","modified_gmt":"2022-12-06T00:55:20","slug":"science-of-salt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aboutmps.com\/blog\/science-of-salt\/","title":{"rendered":"The Science of Salt"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>What is &#8220;salt&#8221;, and how does it work?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>There are a lot of misconceptions in the Snow &amp; Ice industry about salt, salt use and the \u201cScience of Salt\u201d itself, which can often lead to its misuse or misapplication.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Snow &amp; Ice Industry\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>The type of salt used in the <a href=\"\/commercial-services\/snow-ice-management\/\">snow &amp; ice<\/a> industry is commonly known as <strong>rock salt<\/strong>, which is a naturally occurring mineral form of sodium chloride (NaCl). This crystalline form of NaCl is mined from underground salt beds, the result of dried up enclosed lakes or inland seas.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Chemical Reactions<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>We all know that salt is used to melt snow and ice, but this, technically is not exactly true. The solid granules (or crystals) of rock salt do not actually effect the melting process. Salt is a hydroscopic material, which means that it will attract water and heat from its environment. That is why your leather shoes get \u201cdried out\u201d and wrinkled when covered with salt.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6303\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/winterworker-spreading-salt-on-icy-sidewalk-picture-id1124477803.jpg\" alt=\"worker throwing salt onto road\" width=\"100%\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aboutmps.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/winterworker-spreading-salt-on-icy-sidewalk-picture-id1124477803.jpg 800w, https:\/\/aboutmps.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/winterworker-spreading-salt-on-icy-sidewalk-picture-id1124477803-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/aboutmps.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/winterworker-spreading-salt-on-icy-sidewalk-picture-id1124477803-768x384.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><br \/>\nThis type of reaction is known as an <strong>Endothermic Reaction<\/strong>, which is a chemical reaction that absorbs heat. Salt absorbs heat, but in doing so reduces its effective operating temperature.<br \/>\nA chemical reaction that gives off heat is called an <strong>Exothermic Reaction<\/strong>. Magnesium Chloride (MgCl2) or Calcium Chloride (CaCl) gives off heat when used, making them less reliant on air temperature and thus able to work at a lower range. Their costs, however, are significantly higher as well.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6308\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/road-with-salt-and-snow-on-the-sides-picture-id1298795108-1.jpg\" alt=\"Walkways with salt on it\" width=\"100%\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aboutmps.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/road-with-salt-and-snow-on-the-sides-picture-id1298795108-1.jpg 800w, https:\/\/aboutmps.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/road-with-salt-and-snow-on-the-sides-picture-id1298795108-1-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/aboutmps.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/road-with-salt-and-snow-on-the-sides-picture-id1298795108-1-768x384.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/p>\n<h4><strong>How does &#8220;salt&#8221; melt snow and ice?<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Salt actually works by forming a<strong> brine<\/strong> <strong>solution<\/strong> and reducing the <strong>Freeze Point<\/strong> of water. This happens in the following way:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The rock salt crystals attract water from the surrounding snow, ice, freezing rain or meltwater<\/li>\n<li>The salt slowly dissolves and forms a \u201cbrine\u201d solution which breaks the bond between the snow or ice and the pavement<\/li>\n<li>The brine also lowers the freeze point of water from 0\u00baC to about -9\u00baC, which is the \u201ceffective working temperature\u201d of salt<\/li>\n<li>This results in the snow &amp; ice returning to liquid form, or \u201cmelting\u201d (in low accumulations) or allowing the plow to clear the snow more effectively for deeper amounts<\/li>\n<li>Eventually, the salt crystals in \u201csolution\u201d will dissolve and no longer be effective<\/li>\n<li>Untreated salt is not very effective below this temperature (-9\u00baC)<\/li>\n<li>A salt brine solution of 23.3% is the most effective formulation and will work to -21\u00baC in laboratory conditions, but not in the \u201creal\u201d world<\/li>\n<li>Treating salt with organic-based chlorides (MgCl2 or CaCl) can reduce the effective working temperature of salt to as low as -30\u00baC<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><strong>What effects the efficiency of &#8220;salt&#8221;?<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>In non-laboratory conditions, certain factors can have a large influence on salt\u2019s effectiveness.<br \/>\n<strong>Ground temperature<\/strong> for instance, <strong>air temperature<\/strong>, \u00a0the type of <strong>\u201cpavement\u201d<\/strong> , and <strong>water content<\/strong> of the snow can all effect the efficiency of rock salt. Even exposure to <strong>direct sunlight<\/strong> (thermal energy) or heat from underground parking lots can play a role. This is why having a number of options for treating snow &amp; ice under various conditions is important for <a href=\"\/commercial-services\/snow-ice-management\/\">effective management of hazardous winter conditions<\/a>.<br \/>\n&#8211; Ken Jorgenson<\/p>\n<section class=\"text-center\"><a class=\"btn-green my-4\" href=\"\/contact-us\/\"><strong>CONTACT US<\/strong><\/a><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is &#8220;salt&#8221;, and how does it work? There are a lot of misconceptions in the Snow &amp; Ice industry about salt, salt use and the \u201cScience of Salt\u201d itself, which can often lead to its misuse or misapplication. Snow &amp; Ice Industry\u00a0 The type of salt used in the snow &amp; ice industry is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6307,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How does &quot;salt&quot; melt snow and ice? | MPS Property Services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We all know that salt is used to melt snow and ice, but this, is technically not true. Find out what rock salt is, and how it works to melt snow and ice.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aboutmps.com\/blog\/science-of-salt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How does &quot;salt&quot; melt snow and ice? | MPS Property Services\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We all know that salt is used to melt snow and ice, but this, is technically not true. Find out what rock salt is, and how it works to melt snow and ice.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aboutmps.com\/blog\/science-of-salt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MPS Property Services\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100042985372055\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-11-15T19:14:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-06T00:55:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aboutmps.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/salt-melting-ice-1-picture-id145132564.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MPS Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@About_MPS\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@About_MPS\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MPS Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How does \"salt\" melt snow and ice? | MPS Property Services","description":"We all know that salt is used to melt snow and ice, but this, is technically not true. Find out what rock salt is, and how it works to melt snow and ice.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aboutmps.com\/blog\/science-of-salt\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How does \"salt\" melt snow and ice? | MPS Property Services","og_description":"We all know that salt is used to melt snow and ice, but this, is technically not true. 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