• Question: Why does ice burn you if you put salt on it?

    Asked by to Amy, Anita, Daryl, Nimesh, Sandra on 18 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Anita Thomas

      Anita Thomas answered on 18 Jun 2014:

      If you mean that ice develops flames when ice is added, then, no, I don’t think that it burns. If you mean that your arm is ‘burnt’ when you do the ‘ice and salt’ challenge, well, that’s probably due to cold-burn rather than heat-burn. I think that the salt is supposed to lower the temperature of the ice (along the lines of salt water freezing at a lower temperature than fresh water), and this means that your arm is exposed to a lower temperature with the salt-ice mix. The cold numbs your arm, so you don’t notice the pain – until later.

    • Photo: Amy Monaghan

      Amy Monaghan answered on 18 Jun 2014:

      First off I definitely wouldn’t advise doing this! It can leave you with second degree burns which are very nasty and can get infected and leave you scarred for life.

      The reason adding salt to ice burns is because it actually lowers the temperature and of the ice makes it colder than ice made from frozen freshwater. The mixture then absorbs heat from the surrounding skin cells, causing a second- degree burn similar to frostbite.

      Amy

    • Photo: Daryl Jones

      Daryl Jones answered on 18 Jun 2014:

      Cool question- salt actually lowers the freezing and melting point of water- so when you add salt to ice, the water’s freezing point becomes lower and so it melts, but it’s STILL super cold, so the cold water now runs all over your arms and burns you like a feeze, rather than sticking inside an ice cube- where it does less damage!

    • Photo: Nimesh Mistry

      Nimesh Mistry answered on 20 Jun 2014:

      The ice doesn’t actually burn, it melts. Water without salt, freezes at zero degrees but if you add salt it freezes at a lower temperature.

      Adding salt causes the ice to melt because it now is a liquid at that temperature .

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