Lifting Ice with String

Written by Marcia Malory

This experiment will show you how you can use a piece of string to lift a block of ice.

1 bowl filled with water
1 block of ice
A piece of string about six or seven inches long
Salt

Float the block of ice in the water

Wet one end of the piece of string. Place it on top of the ice and sprinkle a spoonful of salt over it.

The salt will melt the ice over the string.

After a while, the ice will refreeze, trapping the string.

Gently pull on the string. The block of ice will rise up out of the water.

When salt is added to water, the freezing point of the water is lowered.

Therefore, when you add salt to ice, the ice melts.

This is why salt is spread over icy sidewalks.

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