Yassir Jamal

Hazards

Last Friday, APES enjoyed an ice cream lab of epic proportions. Using the foundations of

simple heat laws and a few household amenities the class was able to slowly freeze a bag of half

and half, sugar, and vanilla into a delicious concoction of vanilla ice cream. The problem,

however, lay in the aftermath of the lab. It was like a sticky, milky Pandora’s Box had opened,

and the post apocalyptic room was littered with plastic bags, newspapers, dangerously warm

milk, and crystals of rock salt. Table tops were sticky with a mix of milk and vanilla, the floor

was covered with spilled ice cream in plastic bags, and rock salt had clogged the sinks until not

even water could pass through them.

Because each pair of students required 2 plastic bags to freeze their own ice cream, one

of the main waste products of the lab was the overwhelming amount of plastic that was trashed

after every class period. Every class used a whole box of freezer bags as well as a whole box of

regular zip lock bags. The best alternative would be to make better use of recyclable utensils

such as the coffee cans. They were a perfect substitute for the gallon bags, and were able to

freeze the ice cream in the same, and sometimes less, amount of time. The coffee can also

provide students with a way to lower the amount of rock salt used.

Rock salt was another waste product that absolutely wrecked the sinks. Because students

were not mindful of the amount of rock salt they used, and how they disposed of it, large lumps

of it crystallized in the sinks. Because of carelessness, much of the rock salt was poured straight

into the sinks a long with ice, which simply melted close to the drain and let the salt water

evaporate to form large crystals. These crystals are incredibly hard to dissolve, and can clog the

drains. Also, a problem of salinity arises when rock salt is added to tap water.
 Much of the water we use that goes down drains goes to sanitation plants. However, these

plants handle the insoluble particles, and treat the rest with chemicals. Salts, however, are very

difficult to remove from water without the proper tools for purification. Salt, for example, can

only be removed by pressure induced osmosis, an expensive process that is not available in many

of the purification plants in the United States. Because of the carelessness of some students, they

poured large amounts of rock salt into the drains, which will, in turn, end up in the main water

supply, causing an increase in salinity, and, thus, acidity.

This can be avoided by taking the necessary precaution and educating students to dispose

of rock salt properly. Only the ice should be poured into the sink, and the rest of the fess pool of

rock salt and water should be disposed of in the garbage, where it will evaporate and then leave

crystals to be buried. However, this could also damage soils, like Carthage after the Roman

general Scipio Africanus plowed and salted the earth and then enslaved all the Carthigans. While

stories of disaster like the above do exist, such small portions of rock salt, as used in the ice

cream lab, would be unable to cause significant damage to landfills. They will, however, protect

the water supply from contamination by large quantities of salts.

Another serious domestic hazard comes in the form of the milk and dairy products used

in the making of the ice cream, and its containment during the procedure. Because of its high

nutritional value, milk serves as a breeding ground for bacteria once passed a certain

temperature, and this could be especially dangerous for humans. Any germs that are spread to

stagnant, room temperature pools of milk can cause them to reproduce at superior rates and then

spread to infect humans everywhere.

Also, we could just bring ice cream next time. Birthday cake ice cream from blue bell is

absolutely delicious.