De-icing salt (road salt)

An effectively acting de-icing salt is up to 98% (min. 94%) composed of table salt (sodium chloride NaCl), the remaining percentage are admixtures, as other minerals, chemicals, etc. (therefore not edible). The table salt dissolves in the water film on the ice. This causes a reduction of the water freezing point. Sodium chloride is an appropriate road salt for temperatures down to about -10 °C, for lower temperatures other chlorides are used (e.g. magnesium of calcium chloride).