De-Icer

Words: 1699
Pages: 7

Title: De-Icer Lab Report. Author: Maanasa Raghavendran.

Abstract: We wanted to test different de-icers for roads. We looked at how well they lowered the water's freezing point and their enthalpy of dissolution. Through experiments like freezing point depression tests and calorimetry, we studied calcium chloride (CaCI2). The results showed CaCI2 effectively lowered water freezing point. It also has an endothermic dissolution process, absorbing heat. This suggests CaCI2 could work well as a de-icer for roads.

Introduction: Winter roads get slippery with ice and snow. To make them safer, special chemicals are used. These chemicals work by lowering the freezing point of water. The freezing point is the temperature at which liquid turns into
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Another is the heat released when they dissolve. A third is the van Hoff factor, which measures how many particles form when the chemical dissolves. The van Hoff factor shows how much a solution breaks into ions in a solution. It affects how much the freezing point drops. The heat of dissolution is also important. This is the energy absorbed or released when a solute dissolves in a solvent. It impacts how well a de-icer works. Understanding these factors is key to picking the best de-icer for your road. Lowering the freezing point prevents ice. This improves road safety. Smith et al. (2019) studied freezing point depression in de-icing roads. De-icers work better when they dissociate more. Higher dissociation leads to lower freezing points. The van Hoff factor determines this, per …show more content…
Based on our results, CaCl2 exhibits the highest van’t Hoff factor among the tested salts, indicating a greater number of particles produced in solution per formula unit dissolved. This implies that CaCl2 is more effective in lowering the freezing point of water compared to the other salts, making it a favorable choice for de-icing roads solely based on this factor. Additionally, the enthalpy of dissolving gives important information about energy released or absorbed during dissolution. We noticed that CaCl2 has a very exothermic dissolution. This means it releases a lot of heat when dissolving in water. Its exothermic nature suggests CaCl2 would melt ice more efficiently. This is because of the extra heat energy it provides to the surroundings. In analyzing the results of the van't Hoff factor experiments, it becomes evident that calcium chloride exhibits the highest van't Hoff factor among the tested salts. This indicates a greater degree of dissociation into ions when dissolved in water compared to the other salts. The higher van't Hoff factor of CaCl2 suggests it would be more effective in lowering the freezing point of water, making it a favorable choice for de-icing roads. This conclusion is reinforced by the data obtained from the freezing point trials, where CaCl2 solutions