De-icers: What is safe for the environment and is effective?

Math Study Area

De-icers are a common chemical product that cities and homeowners across the world use to melt ice on the roads and around their home. The purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of various de-icers on grass health and compare it to the efficiency from which these de-icers actually melt ice. This was done through placing pots of soil into separate containers each filled with a little bit of a different de-icer solution to test its effect on grass by measuring the percentage of green grass is left in each pot. The efficiency was tested by filling different containers with ice and pouring each of the different de-icers on it and then after a set time, any water in the container was poured out and the container was massed to find out how much ice melted. This project and the results that come from it have very relevant implications as de-icers are a commonly used product throughout the world and with how often they’re used, the impact they can have on the environment can be substantially negative. Finding the least environmentally impactful de-icer as well as the one that is the most economically efficient one was the main focal point of this project.