Instant Ice – Super Cold Water Turns to Ice Before Your Eyes
We recently came across this video by SooToday.com‘s reader Phil Sabine making its rounds on the Internet. In the video, Sabine takes a cold bottle of water, turns it upside down and then taps the bottom. The water instantly begins freezing from the bottom down to the top.
Is it magic? A slight of hand? Or did he switch the liquid in the bottle to something other than water?
The answer to all of the questions is no, there is no trick. The solution lies in the science behind the freezing temperature of water and how ice crystals form. This is also referred to as Supercooled Water.
Everyone knows the freezing temperature of water is 32 degrees Fahrenheit or 0 degrees Celsius. When this temperature is reached, the water molecules freeze by forming ice crystals. It’s easier for the water molecules to turn to ice on top of already formed crystals. Ice crystals build on existing ice crystals to eventually freeze the entire bottle of water.
What starts the freezing ice crystal process?
The process of starting the ice crystals is called “nucleation.” This starts from an impurity or scratch or piece of dust on the container holding the water. In this case, the
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