ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Cryoscopic constant

Imagine you have a big tank of water and you want to put some salt in it. When you add salt, it dissolves in the water and makes it salty.

But did you know that adding salt to water can actually make it freeze at a lower temperature?

This is because the salt molecules mix together with the water molecules and change the way they move around. The salt makes it harder for the water molecules to move around and group together to form ice crystals.

The cryoscopic constant is a fancy name for the amount of salt you need to add to water to lower its freezing point by one degree Celsius. It's kind of like a special recipe that tells you exactly how much salt you need to add to the water to make it freeze at a lower temperature.

So, let's say you want to make an icy treat on a hot day, but you don't want it to melt too quickly. You could use the cryoscopic constant to add just the right amount of salt to the water you're freezing to make it freeze at a lower temperature and stay icy for longer.