Daily Calendar for Tuesday, February 28, 2023
Question of the Day
If rock salt lowers the temperature of the ice and keeps it from thawing when making ice cream, can it be used in a cooler to help keep the food colder longer? Also, if rock salt keeps the ice in an ice cream maker from thawing, how does it melt ice on the road?
It all has to do with the fact that rock salt lowers the freezing/melting point of ice. When you’re making ice cream, the rock salt doesn’t keep the ice from thawing. What it does is mix with the ice, melting it and lowering the freezing point of the liquid left behind. This brine has a temperature around 0 degrees Fahrenheit—cold enough to freeze ice cream. On roads, rock salt has a similar effect, melting the ice and lowering the temperature of the liquid left behind. But since the freezing point of the liquid is lower, not only has the salt gotten rid of the ice that formed previously, but much colder temperatures are now needed to turn the liquid that’s left back into ice.
By the way, we don’t recommend using rock salt in a cooler.
Advice of the Day
Tap maple trees now.
Home Hint of the Day
Be sure to wear a mask to prevent inhaling the dust particles when sanding drywall joint compound — or anything else.
Word of the Day
Spring Tide
A tide of increased range that occurs at times of syzygy each month. Named not for the season of spring but from the German springen (“to leap up”), a spring tide also brings a lower low water.
Puzzle of the Day
What stones are never seen together?
Milestones
Born
- Vincente Minnelli (film director) –
- Gavin MacLeod (actor) –
- Tommy Tune (choreographer) –
- Mario Andretti (race car driver) –
- Kelly Bishop (actress) –
- Bernadette Peters (actress & singer) –
- John Turturro (actor) –
- Robert Sean Leonard (actor) –
- Smarty Jones (Kentucky Derby winning horse) –
Died
- Henry James (writer) –
- Ruby Keeler (actress, singer, & dancer) –
- Daniel Boorstin (Pulitzer Prize-winning author and social historian who served as the librarian of Congress for 12 years) –
- Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. (Pulitzer Prize-winning historian) –
- Mike Smith (lead singer of Dave Clark Five) –
- Paul Harvey (radio broadcaster) –
Events
- Baltimore and Ohio railroad incorporated–
- Congress created the Territory of Colorado–
- Vincent Massey became the first Canadian born Governor General of Canada–
- James D. Watson and Francis H. C. Crick announced discovery of DNA’s chemical structure–
- Parliament created VIA Rail Canada Inc.–
- The last episode of M*A*S*H, Goodbye, Farewell and Amen, aired on television–
- The last episode of M*A*S*H aired on TV –
- Performer Natasha Veruschka swallowed 22.83-inch sword–
- Pope Benedict XVI stepped down as leader of the Roman Catholic church, becoming the first pope in about 600 years to retire–
Weather
- A record snowstorm brought 43 inches of snow to Rochester, New York–
- An area from Kansas to New York experienced record snowfalls–
- A sandstorm with hurricane-force winds derailed a train in western China–