I’m guessing you know what I was doing over the weekend by the question I asked myself…
How does ice melt work?
I knew about salt changing the freezing temperature of water. But as I spread the more paw-friendly “ice melt,” I wondered about the difference.
I discovered afterwards that although the ingredients in different brands of ice melt may differ, the basic concept is the same. They attract moisture to create a liquid brine which generates heat which melts the ice. There is usually some form of salt in the ice melt as well which depresses the freezing temperature.
(Check out this cool experiment on melting ice from Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-makes-ice-melt-fastest/ )
I found my answer on Google of course.
But I was discerning in my Google search – looking for reputable scientific sources (such as Scientific American).
Here’s where I didn’t look for the answer to my question about how ice melt works – my Bible.
Scientific American and the Bible are different types of sources. They respond to different kinds of questions. As Kevin Maschhoff, our guest speaker told our Confirmation classes last week, scientific journals and textbooks respond to questions about how things in our world work. On the other hand, for questions related to why things are the way they are in our world, we look to biblical stories and themes such as faith, sin, love, forgiveness, compassion, calling, promise, and the like.
If you want to know how ice melt works, take a look at a science book.
If you want to know why the type of ice melt we use as people of faith may matter as it affects animals, vegetation, and the larger environment, read the Bible.
In Christ,
Pastor Jen