It snows at Butler. The maintenance crew puts salt on the sidewalks so students and faculty don’t fall down when moving from building to building in the freezing Indianapolis winter. This is much appreciated, since I like to retain the use of both legs. Dancing is much easier with all limbs fully functional.
However, salt gets stuck to shoes. Shoes walk on the kitchen floor. Ergo, the kitchen floor gets coated with salt, and it’s disgusting.
After scrubbing and scrubbing at the kitchen floor on my hands and knees with Magic Eraser, with vinegar, and with soapy water, I hit upon a solution. Put a mat next to the front door and remove wet, salty shoes upon entry! Simple, neh?
My two remaining roommates–the troublesome one having left for Nantes for a semester abroad, leaving us bereft but thankfully free from the horrid, horrid cupcakes she forced us to eat–were kind enough to agree to go along with this plan. I shall inform you of our progress.
The physics smackdown is over. Let the war with salty floors commence.










Oh, it was probably a funny sight for the one NOT on her hands and knees, scrubbing and scrubbing and sweeping and mopping. : ) The grounds crew puts salt on the sidewalks to help melt the snow, and we track it in everywhere inside because it gets in the treads of snow boots.
Salt lowers the freezing point of water, which means salted snow will melt at temperatures that keep freshwater snow frozen. (Thank you, internet.) So yes, salt helps remove snow by forcing it to melt.
Did you say that salt can remove snow? I didn’t know that was possible. Somehow, I can just imagine your expression as you cleaned your kitchen floor.