Hobbies And Interests
Supercooled Water
Making water that is below its normal freezing temperature but remains in the liquid state requires the use of distilled water, a bowl, a clear cup, ice and salt. Fill the bowl up about halfway with water and then dissolve as much salt as possible in the water. This will lower the freezing point of the water. Add ice to the bowl. Place the clear cup and distilled water into the ice bath. Put enough distilled water into the cup to keep it from floating. Place a thermometer into the clear cup to monitor the temperature of the water. Monitor the thermometer to determine when the water reaches supercooled status and for the lowest temperature reached.
Making Ice
Once you have made supercooled water, experiment on how you can make instant ice within the glass. For example, remove the cup from the bowl and drop a small ice cube into the cup. Almost all the water in the cup will immediately convert to ice. Look at the thermometer after the water has converted from supercooled to solid ice. The temperature has risen to 32 degrees, the freezing point of water. The process of creating instant ice from supercooled water actually releases heat, increasing the temperature of the water.
Testing Water Types
Test to see if other types of water will reach supercooled status without freezing -- for example, tap water or bottled water. Create the salt ice bath and set a glass full of tap water. Examine what happens. The tap water will not reach supercooled status but will freeze. The reason is that tap water has other minerals and chemicals deposited with the water molecules. Try boiling the tap water for five minutes and then see if the water reaches supercooled status. Repeat the tests with bottle water to see if you obtain different results.
Pour it Out
There is more than one way to disturb the water molecules that will convert supercooled liquid into ice. Once you have made supercooled liquid, pour the water slowly into another cup. As soon as the water contacts the surface of the cup, it will freeze into ice. Continue pouring water into the cup to watch as the water turns from liquid to slushy ice as it makes contact with the ice below.