I missed the staff meeting but the minutes show JohnM wrote back on Tue, 29 Mar 2005 13:02:11 -0500 in rec.crafts.metalworking :
My brother, when he was 12 or so, managed to spill about a quarter pound of lead off the stove and splatter it all over the kitchen floor, and him in cutoffs and bare feet. Not a mark on him.
Well, in the case of salts, those actually cause the melting point to drop (which, since it can no longer be solid at say 20°F, it melts, hence ice melter works; the melting and depression of melting point also causes cooling, hence salted ice for ice cream machines). Same way a little lead makes tin's melting point drop (the lowest melting point of the system is at
336°F IIRC - a far cry from the 450 or 620°F of either constituent).And as long as I'm dragging on... Things will easily freeze up while you move them -- they might not stick together well though. The motion breaks up bonds between grains of ice (or whatever) as it forms, making a slush. (Heh, take a look at slushy machines!)
Tim
-- "California is the breakfast state: fruits, nuts and flakes." Website:
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