My younger brother recently sent me a YouTube video of "supercooling water". The term supercooling refers to when water is below 32 degrees Fahrenheit but remains in liquid form. Some might think this defies the laws of science, but supercooling is only possible if the water is kept completely still while it's below freezing temperatures. This is because the H2O atoms will be frozen, but they will remain separate since nothing has caused them to move and attach to each other. The second you move the bottle of water, the atoms collide and cling together, causing the water to freeze. Another requirement for this to work is that the water is pure or has been purified. In addition to shaking the bottle to cause the reaction, you can place a few pieces of ice into the water, and it will start the chain reaction of freezing. This phenomenon is hard to observe because even freezers vibrate enough to cause the freezing to occur. But under the right circumstances, anyone can supercool water on their own.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpiUZI_3o8s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGpNhBPYNfs
Posted by Lily Hutson
Monday, January 25, 2010
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