Video

Video

What is Supercooling?

Supercooling is when water stays in its liquid phase and doesn’t turn into a solid (ice) even when the water’s temperature is below its freezing point. If you were to hit the water bottle on a something like a table, however, the water starts to turn into ice.

How does Supercooling Work?

Even though the water is below its freezing point (0°C), it doesn’t turn into ice because it needs to have a place where the ice crystal can start forming (there needs to be a nucleation event which is the initial process that occurs in the formation of a crystal). Also, for this phenomenon to occur, the water needs to be pure because impurities act as sites where the crystal can start forming. In pure water without these impurities, ice will not form until you disturb the water. This can be done by hitting a water bottle on a surface causing a few water molecules to line up in the right way and form ice. As more and more water molecules are oriented correctly more and more ice will be formed until all of the water in the water bottle has turned into ice.