Cream Team

Madi McShan & Bethany Hubbard

Introduction:
When making homemade ice cream, you surround the mixture (in the icecream container)
with ice and salt to get it cold enough to freeze. Although we wont be testing how certain
solutions affect the freezing point of ice cream, we will be testing the freezing point of
seven different solutions: 3 salt & water solutions, 3 sucrose & water solutions, and one
water solution - to be used as the control group. An ice bath mixture of ice and salt will be
used to freeze the 7 solutions. Test tubes of the solutions will be placed in the ice bath
mixture and a thermometer will be used to keep track of the temperatures/freezing points
of solutions.
Purpose:
The purpose of this experiment is to determine the effect that chemicals placed in water
have on the freezing point of a solution.
Hypothesis:
The more solute there is in a given solution, the lower the freezing point of that solution
will be.
Background Information:
-The salt in the ice/salt mixture (ice bath) allows it to get colder than pure water ice. In a
solution, the solvent does the dissolving and the solute is the thing that gets dissolved. The
molecular weight of NaCl (table salt) is 58.443 g. The molecular weight of C12H22O11
(sucrose) is 342.3 g. 100 mL of H2O weighs 0.1 kg. Molality is the number of moles in a
substance divided by the weight of the solvent in kilograms. The number of moles in grams
in a substance is the weight in grams divided by the molecular weight in grams.

Procedure:
1. Fill the styrofoam cup 3/4 full with ice.
2. Cover the ice with 1/2 inch of table salt (NaCl).
3. Mix the ice and salt together with a stirring rod (spoon) until the mixture is at least
-10 C.
4. Rinse off the stirring rod.
5. Label the test tubes and 250mL beakers #1-7.
6. Find the mass of beaker #1.

7. Put 2.9 g of table salt into beaker #1.

8. Measure 100 mL of water in the graduated cylinder, then pour the water into beaker
#1.
9. Mix the water and table salt together with a stirring rod until all crystals have
dissolved.
10. Rinse off the stirring rod.
11. Pour the liquid from beaker #1 into test tube #1 until the test tube is halfway full.
12. Place test tube #1 into the styrofoam cup. Make sure the top of the test tube is above
the liquid in the styrofoam cup, but the liquid in the test tube should be below the
liquid in the styrofoam cup.
13. Stir the liquid in the test tube with a thermometer.
14. When ice crystals begin to form on the test tube, check and record the temperature.
(This is the freezing point.)
15. Empty the test tube and refill it with the same liquid from beaker #1. Repeat steps
12-14 two times.
16. Put 5.8 g of table salt into beaker #2.
17. Measure 100 mL of water in the graduated cylinder, then pour the water into beaker
#2.
18. Mix the water and table salt together with a stirring rod until all crystals have
dissolved.
19. Rinse off the stirring rod.
20. Repeat steps 11-15 using test tube #2 and beaker #2.
21. Put 11.7g of table salt into beaker #3.
22. Measure 100 mL of water in the graduated cylinder, then pour the water into beaker
#3.
23. Mix the water and table salt together with a stirring rod until all crystals have
dissolved.
24. Rinse off the stirring rod.
25. Repeat steps 11-15 using test tube #3 and beaker #3.
26. Put 17.1g of sucrose into beaker #4.
27. Measure 100 mL of water in the graduated cylinder, then pour the water into beaker
#4.
28. Mix the water and sucrose together with a stirring rod until all crystals have
dissolved.
29. Rinse off the stirring rod.
30. Repeat steps 11-15 using test tube #4 and beaker #4.
31. Put 34.2g of sucrose into beaker #5.
32. Measure 100 mL of water in the graduated cylinder, then pour the water into beaker
#5.

33. Mix the water and sucrose together with a stirring rod until all crystals have
dissolved.
34. Rinse off the stirring rod.
35. Repeat steps 11-15 using test tube #5 and beaker #5.
36. Put 68.5g of sucrose into beaker #6.
37. Measure 100 mL of water in the graduated cylinder, then pour the water into beaker
#6.
38. Mix the water and sucrose together with a stirring rod until all crystals have
dissolved.
39. Rinse off the stirring rod.
40. Repeat steps 11-15 using test tube #6 and beaker #6.
41. Measure 100 mL of water in the graduated cylinder, then pour the water into test
tube #7.
42. Repeat steps 11-15 using test tube #7.
43. Calculate the molality of liquids #1-6 and record in the table:
44. Calculate and average the freezing point depression for liquids #1-6, by using the
average of liquid #7 as the solvent freezing temperature. Record the averages in the
table.

Molality of NaCl and Sucrose Solutions

Solution

Substance (g)

Molecular
Weight (g)

Amount of
Water (kg)

Molality
(mol/kg)

Liquid #1

2.9 g NaCl

58.443

0.1

0.50

Liquid #2

5.8 g NaCl

58.443

0.1

0.99

Liquid #3

11.7 g NaCl

58.443

0.1

2.0

Liquid #4

17.1 g C12H22O11

342.297

0.1

0.50

Liquid #5

34.2 g C12H22O11

342.297

0.1

1.0

Liquid #6

68.5 g C12H22O11

342.297

0.1

2.0

Expected Freezing Point Depression

Solution Substance

Molality

Van't
Hoff
Factor

Freezing
Point
(Celsius)

AVG

Molal
Freezing
PointDep
ression
Constant

Expected
freezing
point
Depression
(Celsius)

Solution
Freezing
Point(C)

Liquid
#1

NaCl

0.50

2.0

-1.4, -1.6,
-1.7

-1.6

1.86

1.9

-2.4

Liquid
#2

NaCl

0.99

2.0

-6.4, -8.2,
-4.6

-6.4

1.86

3.68

-4.18

Liquid
#3

NaCl

2.0

2.0

-9.5, -6.8,
-7.5

-7.9

1.86

7.44

-7.94

Liquid
#4

C12H22O11

0.50

1.0

-1.5, -2.4,
-1.3

-1.7

1.86

0.93

-1.43

Liquid
#5

C12H22O11

1.0

1.0

-3.2, -2.1,
-3.5

-2.9

1.86

1.86

-2.36

Liquid
#6

C12H22O11

2.0

1.0

-6.3, -5.3,
-4.6

-5.4

1.86

3.72

-4.22

#7

0.50

-0.5

** #7 was only used to calculate the solution freezing point.

analysisanalyzeyourdata/resultswhatdidyourdatatellyou?
conclusionwasyourhypothesissupported/notsupported?Discuss

Analysis: The experimentally-measured freezing point depression for Liquid #1, containing
2.9 g NaCl in 100 mL water, was -1.6 C. The calculated freezing point depression for Liquid
#1 was -2.4 C. The experimentally-measured freezing point depression for Liquid #2,
containing 5.8 g NaCl in 100 mL water, was -6.4 C. The calculated freezing point
depression for Liquid #2 was -4.18 C. The experimentally-measured freezing point
depression for Liquid #3, containing 11.7 g NaCl in 100 mL water, was -7.9 C. The
calculated freezing point depression for Liquid #3 was -7.94 C. The
experimentally-measured freezing point depression for Liquid #4, containing 17.1 g
C12H22O11 in 100 mL water, was -1.7 C. The calculated freezing point depression for Liquid

#4 was -1.43 C. The experimentally-measured freezing point depression for Liquid #5,
containing 34.2 g C12H22O11 in 100 mL water, was -2.9 C. The calculated freezing point
depression for Liquid #5 was -2.36 C. The experimentally-measured freezing point
depression for Liquid #6, containing 68.5 g C12H22O11 in 100 mL water, was -5.4 C. The
calculated freezing point depression for Liquid #6 was -4.22 C.
Conclusion: The hypothesis is supported by the data, in that adding more salt or sugar will
lower the freezing point of water. In the experiment, the solution with 2.9 g of table salt in
100 mL water had an average freezing point of -1.6 C. The solution with 5.8 g of table salt
in 100 mL water had an average freezing point of -6.4 C. The solution with 11.7 g of table
salt in 100 mL water had an average freezing point of -7.9 C. The solution with 17.1 g of
sugar in 100 mL water had an average freezing point of -1.7 C. The solution with 34.2 g of
sugar in 100 mL water had an average freezing point of -2.9 C. The solution with 68.5 g of
sugar in 100 mL water had an average freezing point of -5.4 C. Normal water has a
freezing point of 0 C, but these salt and sugar water solutions had freezing points below 0
C. Therefore, adding salt, sugar, and other substances will lower the freezing point of water.
ErrorWhen conducting this experiment, a couple things could have been sources of error,
affecting the data. For example, two ice baths were used to freeze the sutions instead of just
one, which could have caused in accuracy in the freezing point temperatures. The scale
used to measure the amount of solute for the solution was only in one-unit incriments (not
decimals), so this as well could've affected the data a bit. Overall, these two procedures are
the only two possible sources of error according to oh knowledge and the rest of the
experiment had no implications.
FutureIn learning which solutions have a lower freezing point, it can be helpful to understand why
a salt and ice mixture is used to freeze ice cream as well as other substances. Using this
data in the future, other solutions (instead of salt and ice) can be used to freeze mixtures
due to the newfound knowledge from this experiment.