Supercooling

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Introduction
Supercooling is the procedure of cooling a liquid below its normal freezing point without freezing (Science Daily). How does it do that? Why does it do that? Who came up with it? Get ready, because supercooling is super cool.

Supercooling is a state where liquids doesn't freeze below their normal freezing point 32 degrees (ESRF). The liquid is stuck in something called a metastable state. This is state where something can exist in long lived states that are less stable than the liquids most stable form. This can only be achieved if there is no seed to trigger the crystallization process. A good example of this is clouds at a high altitude. The clouds contain tiny drops of water and when there are no seeds to trigger the crystallization it doesn't turn to ice, no matter how cold it is. Although, in everyday life there are seed to trigger crystallization.

The answer to why this works can be found in the physics of crystallization. To form a crystal you need something that the crystals can grow around a, nucleus of regularly arranged atoms (Science in school). Crystallization occurs most often when a liquid touches a solid surface or when the liquid contains crystalline impurities. It is kind of like the liquid copies the ordered structure of the solid. This is also know as heterogenous nucleation. In the liquid state, the neighboring atoms touch each other as if they were a solid, the single atoms move around making the perfect regular pattern of a crystal (Science In School). The density of a liquid is not so different from the density of a solid.

To form an ice crystal you need a structure that can be repeated periodically (ESRF). This is not possible with five-fold coordinated groups. In a ...

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... but if the pop is poured into an icy bowl that just came out of the freezer it will ice up right before your eyes. In the glass the ice crystals might collect at the top, to fix this take a spoon or a straw and stir the drink, instantly the pop will ice over. Try keeping the pop liquified by pouring it into a clean bowl. Then freeze it by dropping a small piece of ice into it. The ice crystals will grow until the bowl is filled with another supercooled pop. This trick works just as well with a can, but only if the pressure released very, very slowly or else it will crystalize inside the can.

Works Cited

http://www.indepthinfo.com/temperature/fahrenheit.htm http://www.businessinsider.com/easy-slushie-soda-at-home-2013-7 http://lybio.net/self-freezing-coca-cola-the-trick-that-works-on-any-soda/science-technology/
http://www.scienceinschool.org/print/1953

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