Photo: Emma-Jane Hobden | Unsplash
Beet juice is a promising alternatives to rock salt for clearing winter roads while being easier on the environment, vehicles, and infrastructure. Adding salt to water drops its freezing point, but dissolved rock salt can enter rivers and streams, killing some animal species, leading to high sodium levels in drinking water, and causing about $5 billion dollars worth of damage to vehicles, roads, and bridges in the US every year. The sugar molecules in beets also lower water's freezing temperature, and cities in Minnesota, Michigan, and Missouri, are experimenting with using it for winter deicing. Mixing beet juice with water and salt reduces how much salt is needed, and makes salt work more effectively at lower temperatures. But beet juice is more expensive where beets aren't typically grown. Pickle juice, potato juice, and cheese brine are also being tested, and some places are trying to make roads less ice prone.
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