Water/Freezing point: Difference between revisions

From Citizendium
Jump to navigation Jump to search
imported>Milton Beychok
m (Not Measurable to Not measurable. I hope that is okay.)
imported>David Yamakuchi
(I had a hard time getting refs to transclude thru templates. Perhaps Milton's simple table transclusion will work better...)
Line 1: Line 1:
<includeonly>Not measurable*</includeonly><noinclude>Not Measurable
<includeonly>Not measurable*</includeonly>
<noinclude>Not measurable</noinclude>
<ref>For more info on why the freezing point of pure water is not measurable see:<br />http://www.iapws.org/relguide/Ice-Rev2009.pdf (http://www.iapws.org)</ref>
<ref>For more info on the [[colligative property]] of freezing point depression of water by adding of a solvent (such as a salt) see:<br />http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/chemical/meltpt.html</ref>
<noinclude>




Note: The freezing point of water is not measurable, whereas the melting point is. Very pure water (and we only want to consider pure water in this context) does not freeze without help of a solid crystallization kernel; very cold (metastable) liquid water is obtained by cooling down pure water (I forgot the actual numbers but I have in mind that supercooled liquid water of &minus;40 °C can exist). For some reason (which I don't know) "superheated" ice does not exist, so ice always melts at 0 °C, while the transition from liquid to solid water appears at some fairly random temperatures below zero.--[[User:Paul Wormer|Paul Wormer]] 14:23, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
Note: The freezing point of "pure" water is not measurable, whereas the melting point is. This is because pure water does not freeze without help of a solid crystallization kernel.<ref>http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen01/gen01672.htm</ref> Very cold (metastable) ''pure liquid water'' can be obtained by "[[supercooling]]" pure water.  Pure liquid water has been reported to be possible down to various extremely low temperatures: (-38°C to -45°C<ref>http://polymer.bu.edu/hes/articles/ms98.pdf</ref>) and (231°K=-43.9°C<ref>http://polymer.bu.edu/hes/articles/ds03.pdf</ref>).


::The [[supercooling point]] of pure water is around -42 °C under standard conditions, but liquid water can exist even below that temperature, especially at surfaces and in non-pure solutions. --[[User:Daniel Mietchen|Daniel Mietchen]] 15:59, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
The standard unit of thermodynamic temperature, currently defined in the [[SI system]] as °K (degrees Kelvin), selects as the fundamental fixed point the [[triple point]] of water.  One degree Kelvin, and therefore 1°C ([[Celsius]]), is specified by multiple standards bodies<ref>http://www.bipm.org/en/si/si_brochure/chapter2/2-1/kelvin.html</ref><ref>http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/kelvin.html</ref> as the fraction 1/273.16 of waters triple point.  Formerly (until 1954<ref>http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/kelvin.html</ref>) the definition developed by [[Anders Celsius]] had fixed the 0°C point at the "freezing point" of water.<ref>http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/scientists/celsius.html</ref>  It is now generally accepted that while the [[phase transition]] from solid to liquid water occurs at a predictable temperature (namely 0°C), the transition from liquid to solid water does not. This is because the actual "Freezing" is dependent upon the previously mentioned [[nucleation]] as well as the temperature.{{Reflist}}</noinclude>
</noinclude>

Revision as of 17:12, 15 February 2010

Not measurable [1] [2]


Note: The freezing point of "pure" water is not measurable, whereas the melting point is. This is because pure water does not freeze without help of a solid crystallization kernel.[3] Very cold (metastable) pure liquid water can be obtained by "supercooling" pure water. Pure liquid water has been reported to be possible down to various extremely low temperatures: (-38°C to -45°C[4]) and (231°K=-43.9°C[5]).

The standard unit of thermodynamic temperature, currently defined in the SI system as °K (degrees Kelvin), selects as the fundamental fixed point the triple point of water. One degree Kelvin, and therefore 1°C (Celsius), is specified by multiple standards bodies[6][7] as the fraction 1/273.16 of waters triple point. Formerly (until 1954[8]) the definition developed by Anders Celsius had fixed the 0°C point at the "freezing point" of water.[9] It is now generally accepted that while the phase transition from solid to liquid water occurs at a predictable temperature (namely 0°C), the transition from liquid to solid water does not. This is because the actual "Freezing" is dependent upon the previously mentioned nucleation as well as the temperature.