You have a solution of salt dissolved in water. Why might a drop in temperature result in the dissolved minerals precipitating out of solution?

What will be an ideal response?


Answer: One of the things that define objects in the three states of matter is how much thermal energy they have. The more thermal energy molecules have, the harder they vibrate, and the farther they move apart. As a result, when substances are warm, the molecules are farther apart than when that same substance is cold. When a mineral such as halite is dissolved in warm water, for example, there is more room between the water molecules for the halite molecules. However, when the temperature of the water drops, the water molecules move closer together, decreasing the room available for the dissolved mineral molecules. In the current example, this would force the precipitation of halite.

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

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