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This week Reactions is taking a look at the science and chemistry behind how artificial snow is made. In what may be the warmest Winter Olympics on record, Sochi looks more like SoCal by the day. With few real snowflakes to blanket Sochi's slopes, our latest episode explains how science keeps the Winter Olympics alive with artificial snow.

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Wanna Build a Snowman? - How to Make Fake Snow

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The science of snowflakes - Maruša Bradač

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How atoms bond - George Zaidan and Charles Morton

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How Do Snowflakes Form? | Reactions Science Videos - American Chemical Society

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Through advances in crystallography, scientists have learned a lot about the staggering structure and the number of possible shapes in snowflakes.

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You can make fake snow using a common polymer. The fake snow is non-toxic, feels cool to the touch, lasts for days, and looks similar to the real thing.

Fake Snow Materials

What You Do

There are a couple of ways to get the ingredient necessary to make fake polymer snow. You can purchase the fake snow or you can harvest sodium polyacrylate from common household sources. You can find sodium polyacrylate inside disposable diapers or as crystals in a garden center, used to help keep soil moist.

1. All you need to do to make this type of fake snow is add water to the sodium polyacrylate. Add some water, mix the gel. Add more water until you have the desired amount of wetness. The gel will not dissolve. It's just a matter of how 'slushy' you want your snow.

2. Sodium polyacrylate 'snow' feels cool to the touch because it is mainly water. If you want to add more realism to the fake snow, you can refrigerate or freeze it. The gel will not melt. If it dries out, you can rehydrate it by adding water.

Helpful Tips

1. Fake snow is non-toxic, as you would expect from a material used in disposable diapers. However, don't purposely eat it. 'Non-toxic' is not the same as 'good for you'.

2. When you are done playing with fake snow, it's safe to throw it away.

3. If you want yellow snow (or some other color), you can mix food coloring into the fake snow.

4. If you want drier snow, you can reduce the amount of water the polymer can absorb by adding a small amount of salt.

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How to Make Non-Toxic, Realistic Fake Snow in Minutes

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You can make fake snow using a common polymer. The fake snow is non-toxic, feels cool to the touch, lasts for days, and looks similar to the real thing. There are a couple of ways to get the ingredient necessary to make fake polymer snow.

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Sep 11, 2016 - 13 sec - Uploaded by Mark Martin THE FAKE SNOW IS CHEMICAL youtube.com ICE NUCLEATING LOOK AT LINK IN DESCRIP BAR2 LEARN ...

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Ice Melter Distributor | Salt Supplier | KISSNER

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Salt is the primary component in most of today's ice melter products. Rock Salt, Calcium Chloride, Magnesium Chloride, and Potassium Chloride all contain a considerable amount of salt in them.

If you live in a cold climate with frequent snowfalls, then you have probably seen people spreading pure salt on sidewalks to melt the snow. This practice has become quite common and you might wonder how the salt is able to melt ice and snow.

Salt Lowers the Freezing Point

Why does salt melt ice?
In a nutshell, salt is a great ice melter because it causes "freezing point depression." This means that salt helps in lowering the freezing point and, consequently, the melting point of water (the main component of snow and ice). In its pure state, water freezes at 0°C or 32°F. By using salt, that freezing point can be lowered which forces the ice to melt and prevents the water from freezing or re-freezing.

It must be noted, however, that salt alone can't melt ice. It must first be combined with water to start the melting process. Fortunately, ice and snow are generally covered with a thin film of water. As salt touches this water, it starts to dissolve - subsequently lowering the freezing point and melting the ice surrounding it. It is because of this process that most, if not all, ice melters today are made with some quantity of salt.

Perhaps you are also curious why ice melters also make use of different substances like calcium, potassium, and magnesium. These ingredients help in further decreasing freezing points. They also help in reducing tracking and the corrosive characteristics that salt naturally possesses. To give you an idea of how salt solutions work, here is a very short list:

With 10% salt solution, water freezes at 20°F (-6°C)

With 20% salt solution, water freezes at 2°F (-16°C)

The reason why salt melts ice is quite simple. This melting power is the main reason salt will continue to be used for producing the majority of ice melters on the market today.

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Why Does Salt Melt Ice? - Ice Melter Distributor | Salt Supplier | KISSNER

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Salt is the primary component in most of today's ice melter products. Rock Salt, Calcium Chloride, Magnesium Chloride, and Potassium Chloride all contain a considerable amount of salt in them. If you live in a cold climate with frequent snowfalls, then you have probably seen people spreading pure salt on sidewalks to melt the snow.

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Ionic Compounds and Bonds: Why does salt melt ice?

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Frozen Activities for Ice Powers Just Like Elsa the Snow Queen

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Instant Freeze Water - The Spangler Effect Extra

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With freezing cold temperatures crossing the nation, The Spangler Effect takes a look at the phenomenon of instant freezing water and the dangers of leaving unopened soda bottles out in the cold. Subscribe to The Spangler Effect http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=thespanglereffect

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The Case for Calcium Chloride - Sidewalk Snow and Ice - OxyChem Calcium Chloride

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Compared to other common deicers, calcium chloride provides the optimum combination of deicing properties for sidewalk winter maintenance.

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It's January and winter in the Northern Hemisphere. If you live far enough away from the equator, these days you may be happily sledding down snowy hills or skating on frozen ponds. The winter wonderland is enchanting and fun, but it can also be dangerously slippery underfoot and on the road. Conveniently enough, chlorine chemistry provides a product that can reduce the risk of accidents on ice and snow. That product is the chemical compound calcium chloride, CaCl ₂.

Calcium chloride is a salt. Many people assume there is only one salt on Earth-the one used to season foods. The truth is there are many salts in nature besides sodium chloride, the salt that flavors popcorn and potato chips.

A Sprinkling of the Chemistry of Salts

One of the interesting chemical properties of salts is that when they dissolve in water they change completely into ions-atoms with tiny electrical charges. For example, add table salt-sodium chloride, NaCl-to your pasta pot, and along with tastier pasta, you get, for every unit of NaCl dropped into the water, equal numbers of Na⁺ and Cl⁻ ions. (Na loses one electron, becoming positively charged, and Cl gains one electron, taking on a negative charge.) Similarly, when calcium chloride is added to water, Ca⁺² and Cl⁻ ions fill the water. But notice that each CaCl ₂ unit makes two chloride ions for every one calcium ion. So, for every unit of CaCl ₂ that is dissolved, three ions result-one Ca⁺² and two Cl⁻.

A Tale of Ted the Water Molecule and the Freezing Point Depression

Now let's consider the water molecules that make up a puddle of water on the road on a winter day. Water molecules are shaped like tiny teddy bear heads. The large oxygen atom can be thought of as the teddy bear face; the two smaller hydrogen atoms, his ears.

Although it is not an ion, each water molecule has a net negative area (around where the teddy bear's neck would be) and a net positive area (between and above the teddy bear's ears). These molecules are constantly in motion and their speeds are determined by the temperature of the puddle--the higher the temperature, the faster the motion.

Now imagine the following scene in the puddle: Little Ted and the other water molecules have been moving around all day and speeding up as the afternoon sun has warmed the air and the puddle. But as the mild winter day wears on and evening approaches, temperatures are falling rapidly. Ted and the others are slowing down and becoming very sluggish.

Then something amazing happens. The water temperature hits 0°C (32° F) and the molecules slow down so much that they become affected by their own weak positive and negative charges. At higher temperatures the water molecules barely noticed these attractive forces, but now, it's colder and as they slow down to a crawl, the molecules are automatically arranging themselves so that the positive region of one is next to the negative region of another, and vice versa. Ted and the others are beginning to freeze in this position. The puddle is turning to ice-a danger to cars and pedestrians.

But, wait! Along comes the salt-spreader to dump some CaCl ₂ in the puddle that's turning to ice. We know what happens to salts in water-the puddle is soon populated by positively charged Ca⁺² ions and twice as many negatively charged Cl⁻ ions. In dissolving in the puddle, these ions increase the disorder of the puddle liquid. Because nature "prefers" things to be mixed up, the addition of the salt has the effect of putting a temporary halt to the freezing process. The puddle remains liquid at 0°C, the temperature at which pure water would freeze. Freezing now will not occur until the temperature drops even lower because the salt-water mixture is more stable than a salt-ice mixture would be. This is good news for drivers and pedestrians since wet roads are not nearly as slick as icy ones.

This little example illustrates what scientists call the freezing point depression of water. Physical chemists tell us that the greater the number of dissolved ions in water, the greater the disorder of the puddle, and the lower the freezing point. When we spread CaCl ₂ on roads and walkways for safety in the winter, we are taking advantage of the freezing point depression idea. And CaCl ₂ is a better road salt than NaCl because it makes more ions per formula unit of the salt dissolved.

This is Don Juan Pond in Antarctica, a very shallow pond (here shown during a dry spell) that is the only liquid body of water in Antarctica. This pond has so much CaCl ₂ dissolved in it, it never completely freezes, even in the dead of the Antarctic winter when temperatures may reach ⁻50°C (⁻ 58°F)

Follow-Up Questions

1. Explain how and why salt is used in making ice cream.

2. Name the following salts. How many units of different ions are generated when one unit of each of the following salts is dissolved?
a. CaF ₂
b. KCl
c. MgCl ₂

3. Besides lowering the freezing temperature of water, salts also raise the boiling temperature of water. Explain why this is so, using the concept that nature "prefers" disorder over order.

For a list of previous "Chlorine Compound of the Month" features, click here.

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Calcium Chloride: Melting Ice in the Winter

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It's January and winter in the Northern Hemisphere.If you live far enough away from the equator, these days you may be happily sledding down snowy hills or skating on frozen ponds. The winter wonderland is enchanting and fun, but it can also be dangerously slippery underfoot and on the road.

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Please check out my other channels welcome.

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Machines make snow the same way nature does - only much more quickly, and a lot closer to the ground.