1) For a freezing point depression experiment we had to create an ice bath and add salt to the ice. I have to answer the question, why was salting the ice necessary in order to complete the experiment and how does this apply to the principles/concepts behind this experiment?
My answer is that we added the salt because it lowers the melting point of the ice, making it melt more readily. It applys to this experiment because we wanted to find the freezing points of different solutions so we needed the ice bath to stay as cool as possible.
Does what I put make sense?
Yes, your answer makes sense. You correctly stated that adding salt to the ice lowers the melting point of the ice. This is called freezing point depression.
To further explain, this phenomenon occurs because when salt (or any solute) is added to water, it disrupts the crystal lattice structure of the ice. The solute particles occupy the space between water molecules, making it harder for the water molecules to form a solid lattice and freeze. Therefore, a lower temperature is required to freeze the solution compared to pure water.
In the case of your freezing point depression experiment, you needed the ice bath to be as cold as possible to accurately measure the freezing points of different solutions. By salting the ice, you were able to create a colder environment because the ice didn't melt at 0°C (32°F) as it would in the absence of salt. This allowed you to observe and record the freezing points of the solutions at lower temperatures, providing more accurate data for your experiment.