Pre-Lab+Questions

Salt is added to the ice surrounding the the ice cream ingredients in a mixture. When salt is added to this mixture, there is a change in a physical condition which causes a covalent compound into two **ions**. This process is called **dissociation**. These two ions would be Na+ and Cl-. When the salt, NaCl, dissolves in water, it lowers the freezing point of the water by a couple of degrees. This is the ability of a dissolved solute to lower the freezing point of a solution, **freezing point depression,** which can also be described as a **colligative property.** There was a separation of solute and solvent particles from one another which means that energy/heat was being absorbed, making it an **endothermic desolution**. When this happens, the ice cream ingredients decrease in temperature because there is a transfer of heat. Adding salt to the ice, lowers the freezing point of the ice, and so more energy needs to be absorbed in order to make the ice melt. The result of this is that now the ice is colder than it was before which allows your ice cream to freeze.