• Question: How does seawater behave at cold temperatures?

    Asked by to Ben on 17 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Ben Butler

      Ben Butler answered on 17 Jun 2014:

      Seawater freezes at -2 degrees celsius, which is a little bit colder than the freezing point of freshwater. What is particularly interesting about frozen seawater is that all of the salts in seawater crystallise when it freezes and make it very different to the normal ice cubes that you put in your drinks.

      These tiny crystals make frozen seawater bright white, whereas normal ice cubes are pretty much see through. They also make frozen seawater a lot stronger than normal ice… So all of the differences between freshwater and seawater are caused by the salts!

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