As fall blends into winter each year, the Ice Melting Alprazolam Powder for sale business begins to thrive. The marketing of this annual business starts months earlier with flashy new packaging for the ice melting chemicals along with bold new names and product claims. This article stresses the importance of MET, “minimum effective temperature”, in lieu of the many ultra low melting temperature product claims.
The most commonly used chemicals for melting ice are salts, fertilizers, urea and glycols with salts being by far the most predominant. These chemicals melt ice by lowering the melting point temperature at which a water solution freezes. Since most buyers understand that ice melting chemicals with lower melting point temperature are better, packaging and product claims often exaggerate the melting point temperatures to increase sales.
Buyers will not be fooled if they understand the importance of MET. All ice melting chemicals have two melting points as described below:
Eutectic melting point is the absolute lowest temperature at which the chemical in solution with water freezes. In practice, this melting point can be achieved only in a laboratory under very specific conditions. As solutions of the chemical and water approach this temperature, the chemical must approach complete saturation levels in the solution. When the chemical finally reaches the point of complete saturation it begins to crystallized, and the melting point goes up rapidly.
MET (minimum effective temperature) melting point is the practical melting point at which a chemical in solution with water prevents freezing under wintery environmental conditions. The chemicals must enter into a brine solution with water to lower the melting point. As the ice melting chemicals enter into the solution they become less concentrated very quickly and therefore further away from the complete saturation level required in the laboratory to achieve the eutectic melting point temperature.
It is the MET melting point that should be advertized for all ice melting chemicals. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. Buyers should beware of any ice melting chemical that advertizes melting points below minus 25 F. Calcium chloride is the only chemical that has a MET of minus 25 F. When blended with other chemicals, the result can only be an increase in MET. The eutectic and the MET melting point for the commonly used ice melting chemicals are listed below from lowest to highest MET:
