Monday, November 19, 2018

physical chemistry - Why calcium chloride is used to melt ice over sodium chloride


I'm not quite sure I understand this. My question is:



Calcium chloride is a salt used widely to melt ice on sidewalks and roads. Explain why one mole of $\ce{CaCl2}$ would be more effective than one mole of $\ce{NaCl}$.



So from everything I've learned, $\ce{NaCl}$ would be more effective for the melting, because calcium chloride dissociates into three ions and sodium chloride dissociates into two, so that would make the boiling point of water with calcium chloride higher. Therefore, it shouldn't be used to melt ice over sodium chloride, as it would make the water have a higher boiling point so wouldn't melt it as well!




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