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How come soy sauce doesnt freeze?
Question Date: 2008-06-10
Answer 1:

That's a very good question! Soy sauce does not freeze due to its high salt content. When a liquid has many particles dissolved in it, such as the sodium and chloride ions in table salt, the temperature at which the liquid can freeze decreases. To be specific, this can happen when just about anything is dissolved into a pure liquid -- it does not need to be salt. This is a phenomenon called "freezing-point depression." On the molecular level, what is happening is that the ions/particles are getting in the way of water forming into ice crystals. As the temperature decreases, the water molecules slow down and come together to form ice crystals, but the particles dissolved in the water make this more difficult for the water molecules to do. This is also why salt can be used to dissolve ice when roads get icy and why ocean water freezes at a lower temperature (about -1.91 degrees Celsius). So, in summary, the soy sauce will not freeze in a normal freezer (which ranges from -13 to -18 degrees Celsius), but will probably freeze at a lower temperature than this. Hope that helps answer your question!


Answer 2:

That's an interesting question. Soy sauce is made by fermenting soybeans. Fermentation creates alcohols like ethanol, which can lower the freezing point. Also soy sauce is very salty. Salt also lowers the freezing point.Eventually soy sauce would freeze if you could lower the temperature enough,but your standard freezer probably couldn't go that low. Hope that helps!



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