What chemical melts the ice fastest?

Answer 1

NaCl, sodium chloride, is well-known for lowering the melting point of water. What you are asking, though, is a question which, albeit not exceeding my knowledge of chemistry, triggered my thinking nuts in my head. After taking a step back and thinking about the physics and chemistry behind ice melting, I came to a conclusion. But first a short introduction to ice melting:

First of all,

Ice is the solid form of water which means that the molecules in it moves slower than in the liquid form. In short, their kinetic energy is lower than in the liquid state. This occurs typically around 0 degrees Celsius for water, simply because the energy at this temperature is to low to contain the required movement of liquid water molecules.

Secondly,

Temperature is nothing more than the average kinetic energy of the particles in a substance.

With this in mind, the best way of melting ice is to slam as many high-energy particles we can into the ice, since more particles with higher energy means a faster energy transfer, thus leading to a faster melting.

Another take on this is,

If we try to melt a 2 cm3 ice-cube in a vessel containing a litre of water at 20 degrees Celsius it will go faster than if we try to melt it in a vessel containing a litre of air at the same temperature. This is not surprising though if we think of the number of molecules in a litre of water contra that in a litre of air. There are clearly much more molecules in the vessel containing water. And more molecules means a higher chance of them slamming into, and transferring their energy to the ice-cube. This is why the water containing vessel melts the ice faster.

Lastly, NaCl, as suggested as one of several potent chemicals to, perhaps not make the ice melt faster, but to lower its melting point, works by interacting with the water molecules. Since NaCl consists of Na+ and Cl--ions and water molecules are polar, what happens is pretty much that the partially negatively charged part (the oxygen) of the water molecules turns so that it faces towards the sodium ion, while the partially positively charged hydrogen-atoms turn toward the chloride ion. This gives a situation which is basically the same as the so-called "solvent effect" that occurs when NaCl (s) is diluted in water in liquid state.

Answer 2

Out of all possible chemicals that might be used to melt ice, chances are fuming sulfuric acid would melt it the fastest, although you would not actually want to use it on your driveway, since you would be sacrificing safety for speed.

Answer 3

Any material that dissolves into the ice and makes a solution that has a lower freezing point than pure water ice will melt it. The most common material used in this manner is NaCl.

Answer 4

ice melting is a physical reaction

Answer 5

Potassium Sulfate

Answer 6

magnesium chloride