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Instant Ice

collegehumor.com — Watch this water freeze instantly. How does this work?

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  • Vigrant, on 10/12/2007, -12/+40Where can I get some??
    • pyrolyte, on 10/12/2007, -14/+210its supercooled. so your freezer.
    • drewhenson, on 10/12/2007, -58/+55I left bottled water overnight in my car, and when I tried to drink some the next morning, I opened the bottle and it froze rock solid.
    • ChicknBot, on 10/12/2007, -55/+22IDEA:
      Diet Coke + Instant Ice + Mentos = Nuclear Reaction??

      Side note: This is intriguing, now I have to come up with a good excuse to explain the wife why the red meat is not in the freezer.
    • Platysquirrel, on 10/12/2007, -39/+29Pure water doesn't freeze as easily. Throw a bottle of distilled water in the freezer and see what I mean.
    • triplay543, on 10/12/2007, -68/+7Notice they don't show the bottom of the cup. I bet there was some kind of cooling agent in the cup. Liquid nitrogen, i'd bet. You can't super cool water without having it freeze. Maybe getting it to about 33 degrees before pouring it would help.
    • gcnaddict, on 10/12/2007, -26/+650I'm assuming I already know which video this is, so I'll post what I know based on that:

      The water isn't being disturbed. Undisturbed water in it can become slightly cooler than freezing and still remain a liquid. The second the water is disturbed, the disturbance jostles the water molecules, forcing them into the necessary hydrogen bonds needed for the bottle to turn into ice.

      I know this because I tried it. Get an *unopened* bottle of spring water and leave it in your car's trunk overnight on a night that's slightly below freezing. On the next day, take the bottle and shake it while it's still a liquid. It should freeze.


      (and of course, I get dugg down for trying to help. Thanks.)
    • npsken, on 10/12/2007, -7/+26Take distilled water and lower its temperature to below freezing. Agitation or pollutants will then make it freeze. Notice in the video the person was careful when beginning to poor it out.
    • bIuebonics, on 10/12/2007, -5/+32who dugg down pyrolyte? (edit: well, looks like he was dugg up in the time i took to post) it's actually called supercooled water. it's liquid water whose temperature is below freezing point. there's also superheated water. where, naturally, the liquid water's temperature is above the boiling point. supercooling water can be accomplished with your freezer just as superheating water can be done with a non-turntable microwave (caution: superheated water can be extremely dangerous).

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_cooling
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superheating
    • SWiG, on 10/12/2007, -4/+78We all know that there was already some Ice-nine in there. I hope it didn't get out into the wild!!
    • bmartin, on 10/12/2007, -22/+37"Pure water doesn't freeze as easily. Throw a bottle of distilled water in the freezer and see what I mean."

      http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/chemistry/FreezingPointDepression.html

      The more solute you put into a liquid, the colder it has to be to freeze.
    • bIuebonics, on 10/12/2007, -23/+22amazing, and now someone's dugg down bmartin for stating a simple fact. it's the reason salt lowers the freezing point (and raises the boiling point). seriously, i thought digg was a supposedly intelligent, science-minded community, yet you digg someone down for stating simple scientific fact and digg someone up (platysquirrel) for stating something false. amazing.
    • jiggidy, on 10/12/2007, -14/+8@gcnaddyct

      I don't know about disturbed water. Looks like distilled water to me. Distilled water can be chilled beyond freezing because it has no impurities in it. Water needs impurities to freeze. So when it comes in contact with the micro-organisms in the cup, it freezes.
    • Godel, on 10/12/2007, -4/+14@bmartin

      Yes but adding solute provides condensation points. That prevents the water from reaching the supercooled state.
    • djlosch, on 10/12/2007, -3/+19this is why you should NEVER freeze or microwave distilled water. it is pure enough that the temperature can get below the freezing point (supercooled) or above the boiling point (superheated) without changing state. however, when disturbed, the air adds enough impurities to make it instantly freeze or boil over.

      there are a ton of videos on youtube of supercooled liquids (a beer bottle being tapped after it's been sitting in the freezer too long). also, if you take distilled water and microwave it for a few min, it won't boil over, but then you drop a spoon in it and it will violently boil over.

      this is also the reason why so many people who fry turkeys for txgiving end up burning themselves. cooking oils have rather high smoking points, and fresh oil is usually pure enough to superheat. they drop in the turkey and the disturbance causes 500+ degree cooking oil to violently erupt from the drum, which gets on people in addition to the burner (which causes a fire).
    • arktos, on 10/12/2007, -2/+19Heres the exact same video on youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSPzMva9_CE

      its linked from the wikipedia article on super cooling, down at the bottom with this description:

      "Video of Supercooled Water A video of −21 °C supercooled water poured into a bowl, instantly turning to peaks of slush."
    • mikewitt, on 10/12/2007, -22/+10I doubt that that was water. Here's why:

      The crystals spread too rapidly (at the end, where he freezes the stuff in the water bottle) to be even "supercooled" water (yes it does exsist, and in fact I'll be talking about it in a second). Also, notice how it melts just as quickly.

      Here's what I think it is: In some heating packs, they use a substance that would not normally be a liquid at room temperature, but also cannot form a crystal structure of its own. The Heating packs work by having you put it in a pot of almost boiling water, this causes the crystalline structure to break apart, then when you want to activate it, you pinch a corner, and it pushes some of the same substance into contact with the now "supercooled" material (I just remember talking about it in chemistry). This will heat up because the crystallization can only take place at melting point: and in the process forms this crystalline structure throughout the heating pack. My guess would be that they put some of these "starter" crystals in the bottom of the ramekin, and then when they add more of the substance, it causes it to crystallize, near that substance's melting point. Because there's lots of it, the heat generated by its own reaction causes it to melt (just slightly), and form that liquid again, just like we see in the video.

      I could be completely wrong, but I know that the substance I'm talking about _DOES_ exist (I think it's something like sodium thiocyanate).
    • arktos, on 10/12/2007, -16/+4@mikewitt

      read my post right above yours. the same exact vid on youtube has it described as super cooled water. looks like you were wrong, mister smarty pants.
    • nazsco, on 10/12/2007, -9/+4Distiled water takes longer to freeze. The more impurities in the wather, the faster it will freeze.
    • Nerys, on 10/12/2007, -7/+6Or maybe the tag on the Video is wrong. Guess you never thought of that ehh ?

      The only thing that makes me suspicious is that he is ABLE to pour it. usually just MOVING it is enough to cause it to transition to solid.

      The slush state could be that its only a hair supercooled but I think the heat pack solution is also a viable answer.
    • iamjames, on 10/12/2007, -11/+3It's not ice. It's sodium polyacrylate:
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_polyacrylate

      "Polymers were produced which absorbed up to 10,000 times their weight in distilled water (gel capacity) and are called polyelectrolytes. These polymers are referred to as "Super Absorbents" and "Water Crystals". When dry, the polymer appears as a white powder and when in gel form it is a transparent slush/gel. It is used in diapers, bed pads, fire control, spray drift control, seed germination, soil conditioning, and hydroponics."

      We use to play with this in middle school (public US schools I might add) and it's very cool stuff. Can't believe everyone thought this was real, didn't anyone else play with this stuff in school??
    • emjaymj, on 10/12/2007, -10/+6@platysquirrel

      Wrong... water is harder to freeze when there are ions present because they lower the energy required for water to change states. This is why salt is used on roads during the winter in snow climates, to lower the freezing point. This is also why salt is used when boiling water for pasta and other foods, in order to lower the boiling point so that it boils quicker.
    • emjaymj, on 10/12/2007, -7/+3Sorry you know what... my mistake. I forgot that water needs to contain SOME dissolved solids in order to have something to crystallize around :) But there's still a lot of truth to what I said. It's not that distilled water is harder to freeze, it's just that it can't freeze.
    • iamjames, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3here's a similar video using Sodium polyacrylate:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QK73T-pZgY

      except it's been altered to create fake snow instead but the idea is the same, plain water changes instantly
    • RiverBelow, on 10/12/2007, -7/+3OMGWTFH4X!
    • redheadguy719, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6this looks kinda like something we did in chemistry with "Supersaturated Solutions." You can heat a solution so that more solute will dissolve. When it cools it retains that same amount of solute, but when you add a crystal of the solute or, what we did, pour the supersaturated solution onto a crystal of the solute, the excess solute begins to leave the solution and crystalize. It looked like exactly the same.
    • md10md, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@emjaymj

      Salt decreases the freezing point but actually increases the boiling point. The pasta boils faster because the water is hotter. Solutes just spread out the gap between the freezing and boiling points in both directions.
    • Koncept, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8@mikewitt & iamjames

      Sodium Polyacrylate Reacting with water:
      http://unitednuclear.com/sodiumpolydemo.mov
    • S1ngular1ty1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13In order for something to crystallize or freeze, you need nucleation sites for the new phase (i.e. ice) to form. Phase fluctuations occur as random events due to the thermal vibration of atoms. An individual fluctuation may or may not be associated with a reduction in free energy, but it can only survive and grow if there is a reduction. So water periodically changes to ice at a molecular level do to random fluctuations of its atoms. These microscopic ice particles can only grow to form crystals if they become large enough to make the phase transition easy enough for the rest of the liquid by lowering the interface energy between the ice phase and the water phase. When this occurs it is known as homogeneous nucleation because no outside particles are used to initiate nucleation.

      You see, there is a cost associated with the creation of a new phase (such as ice crystals), the interface energy, a penalty which becomes smaller as the particle surface to volume ratio decreases. So as the radius of the microscopic ice particle clusters increase or as the radius of imperfections (such as dust, bumps in container walls, air bubbles, etc) increase, the likelihood of the water to freeze (I.e. to form ice crystals) increases. If there are no imperfections, as mentioned before, the likelihood of ice crystals forming in water is small even at temperatures below 0 °C. Water that is cooled below 0 °C is known as supercooled water. Any agitation to a cup or bottle of supercooled water will cause clusters of microscopic ice particles to form in the liquid that are larger than the critical nucleation radius, Rc, and ice crystals will begin to grow in the rest of the liquid do the lowered interface energy between the two phases. Supercooling is usually only possible with water that is free of impurities (or purified water). Impurities lower the energy required to form crystals and act as nucleation sites where the water will begin to freeze usually at 0 °C at standard atmospheric conditions. When ice crystals begin to form at impurities this is known as heterogeneous nucleation.
    • rebo2, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0All of you morons who say it's supercooled water etc etc and are putting equations are full of it. Yes, it IS a supersaturated solution. It's simply that clear liquid in hand warming packets. You flex a disc to "seed" the crystal growth, resulting in a phase change and releasing heat. It's an exothermic reaction. Digg me up, you know I'm right.
    • stacky, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1There have been similar videos on digg before. I'm not complaining, as this one is cool, but here is a link to a whole bunch of supercooling videos, with an explanation:

      http://f0rked.com/articles/supercooling
    • GarethSaxby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2redheadguy719 is correct; a very similar effect can be gotten from creating a fully saturated salt solution, and then pouring it onto even more salt (It doesn't have to be NaCl either). The crystals come out of solution, creating a effect that's very similar to ice. It's even capable of freezing into a beaker, much like the water bottle in this. I'm not sure that this is the method used, as others seem to have put forward some other equally possible methods, but all the same, salt over saturation is still a possible means that most likely relies on very similar principles.
    • tamrix, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1surprisingly the same can happen for boiling water.
      Example, get a cup of water and put it in the microwave for 5mins. It will reach temperatures beyond boiling yet it wont boil.. Then the moment you touch it to get it out of the microwave, all the energy will be released and BLAMO it will shoot a bit of hot water into your eye socket Which is it boiling for like half a second.
    • KismetSky, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2How to:

      Need:
      Smirnoff Ice
      Freezer

      Freeze the Smirnoff in the freezer for at least a day.
      As soon as you open the bottle, start pouring slowly.

      I do this pretty frequently to make a slushy alcohol drink, it's yummy.
    • shinynew, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2you can also superheat water in a flawless container.

      and as soon as you touch it it explodes.
    • matthewbruni, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0WOW YOU GUYS REALIZE THIS IS JUST A REACTION EHH

      iTS JUST WATER BOILED WITH SODIUM ACETATE.
  • optikalblitz, on 10/12/2007, -7/+24Awesome but... no tech info o_O

    what a tease
    • NickMilne, on 10/12/2007, -7/+34It clearly works by dark magic of some sort
    • zybch, on 10/12/2007, -10/+2C'mon, its pretty clear that its not even water. It flows to slowly (is more viscous) and the end bit with it in the bottle, well, if it was freezing truly then you wouldn't have the drips of liquid still coming out!

      Then you have this

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3R4VAdCbTg

      Which IS real.
    • Actionjakson, on 10/12/2007, -7/+4It's a reverse microwave!!
  • optikalblitz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+56after some clicking...

    a how-to: http://johnmudd.infogami.com/blog/3j1k
    • spudnic, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1It works a lot easier with carbonated liquids, except they'll freeze when you open the bottle rather than when you pour it.
      It's something to do with the dissolved co2 lowering the freezing point, which then rises again when you open the bottle and let some of it escape.

      That doesn't explain the puring version of it, but it's the closest I can give any answers to
    • WaterDragon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Thanks. One of the linked articles from that page is awesome. "Sixty-three anomalies of water."
      http://www.btinternet.com/~martin.chaplin/anmlies.html
  • valis, on 10/12/2007, -7/+71Ice 9
    • dbalaski, on 10/12/2007, -9/+8Lol - ICE 9 , i was thinking the same thing - good tribute to Vonnegut :)
    • Gzero, on 10/12/2007, -6/+5My first reaction too :).
  • therealrico, on 10/12/2007, -19/+3it looked like somone was taking a dump kinda
  • MasterChi, on 10/12/2007, -6/+41I so can't wait till digg gets a video section so videos won't just be posted anywhe........ohhh.
    • NSMike, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14The problem is, the new design of digg separates videos from the rest of the front-page topics. When it was part of the regular topics, I remember nearly every video hitting 900+ diggs, usually pretty quickly. Most videos are lucky to get 500+ diggs now. People want their videos to be seen. I know when I browse through the news stories, I don't bother with the videos that much anymore. And sometimes I remember, "Oh, there's a videos section too!" and I go check it out.
  • Mytzylplyx, on 10/12/2007, -13/+22"IDEA:
    Diet Coke + Instant Ice + Mentos = Nuclear Reaction??"


    lol, awesome idea.
    • samadam, on 10/12/2007, -21/+5You obviously don't understand the concept behind this. Both things you mention, supercooling and the mentos eruption function couldn't possibly exist together. Mentos happens because the liquid is given a large, rough surface area to propagate on. Supercooling happens because there is no such surface for the ice crystals to propagate from. So, they are mutually exclusive.

      Sorry.
    • spudnic, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13I think it was a joke.
    • Trebis, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6samadam:
      He was kidding.

      Just lettin' you know.
  • stealth45, on 10/12/2007, -5/+11I thought they might have used sodium polyacrylate.

    Google it.
    • JSchroeder, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9I agree. I am a science teacher and sometimes use this substance for a demonstration. It is used in diapers and absorbs a massive amount of water. Put some in the bottom of the container and the water will instantly gel up.
    • TeatimeGrommit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It didn't look like supercooled water to me either. It looked like a supersaturation demo. But it could also have been some other supercooled liquid, since there are transparent liquids that are better for these kinds of demos than water.
  • Candlelight, on 10/12/2007, -15/+0I dont think it was water... may be some computer animation or t-butyl alcohol (maybe)
    • Harashi, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0Its water, I learned about super-cooled water in 7th grade... there is such a thing as super-cooled rain, rain thats under freezing in the atmosphere that falls so quickly it cannot freeze, so as soon as it hits something solid it freezes. Its water... believe me, and if you don't look at some of the other comments, I believe there is even a link on how to do this in this forum. Not trying to be Mr. Smarty-Pants, just saying its very possible to do this. =D


      oh and mytzylplyx, nice idea rofl!
  • TIEpilot501, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8Finally, it looks like scientists are making progress in developing the Ice Beam.
  • Candlelight, on 10/12/2007, -9/+0...
  • Thex1138, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2Mister Freeze
  • Agrabah, on 10/12/2007, -15/+4What is love?
  • TIEpilot501, on 10/12/2007, -10/+1Actually, now that I think about it, it's probably just liquid Nitrogen or something underneath the cup (hence the camera only looks at the top part). It's cool, but I don't think it will be cheap enough to be adopted by the snow cone industry.
  • jasongdx, on 10/12/2007, -9/+1I've seen something very similar before, and I'm pretty sure it's just a gel. The" ice" in this video doesn't even look like ice, but it does look like a gel.
  • DonkeyTime, on 10/12/2007, -6/+0Mmmmm... clear cheese.
  • Harashi, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0oh wow I'm slow at typing. =D
  • alexforcefive, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1Anyone else notice that it melted as quickly as it froze?

    Cool, but fairly useless
  • form3hide, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0Is this the same type of thing that makes Corona's freeze in the bottle?

    A lot of time at work, we'll open a bottle of Corona and then all of a sudden, the whole thing freezes.
    • spudnic, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2Every time you use an apostrophe for a pluralisation god kills a kitten.

      Hmm, doesn't quite have the same ring to it, never mind.
    • WaterDragon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Yes...it is super cooled beer!
      Don't super cool your beer, if you want to drink it any time soon.
    • form3hide, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Isn't the correct spelling pluralization?
  • DeFex, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2uh oh its ice9..don't pour it in the sea!
  • gormenghast, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1Ice 9, it's here.
  • zephris, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1This was submitted by someone else earlier this week. Buried as duplicate.
  • gabrielloewen, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3I don't think this is ice at all. I think that the water being poured into the bowl is reacting with a polymer that is at the bottom of the bowl. Anybody who has taken an introductory course in chemistry should recognize this as a polymer reaction. Look up "instant snow polymer" in google and you will see what I am talking about. This might create "instant ice" but I would not eat it because this is definitely not pure water.
    • zephris, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4It's ice. Stop thinking and start researching.
    • spudnic, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4Because if it was pure water you'd rush out to your freezer, freeze a bottle, pour it out, watch it freeze, then eat it?

      What a strange young fellow you are
    • TIEpilot501, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@zephris
      So what did you find from your research, then?
  • crossmr, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2could we a get a few more people repeating this?
  • Harashi, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1oh >.< I'm sorry, I just read through the comments again and realized the mentos+diet coke+instant ice wasn't mytzylplyx's idea.
    sorry, must give credit where credit is due.
    I like your idea ChicknBot!
  • abxy, on 10/12/2007, -10/+1This is inaccurate. That is NOT water. It's some Vinegar-ish chemical solution which just happens to be clear like water.

    I remember doing a Lab for this stuff back in high school Chemistry. It's been a long time since high school so I forgot why the solution does that. But I remember that if you slowly pour the solution onto itself from a high enough distance, then starts to turn into a whitish solid---and it actually starts to get really hot, not cold.

    I'll flip through my Chemistry book which I still have from high school and reply to this, and tell you exactly what it is.
    • gabrielloewen, on 10/12/2007, -8/+0Exactly, thank you for being intelligent. I made the same statement above, but people will be fooled by this video. This is clearly a chemistry reaction.
    • Harashi, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1Hmmmmm... it seems that there are many ways to recreate this effect, all coming up with a similar result, if the people who actually did this would just tell us how we wouldn't have this discussion =D but then again, if the people who did this told us how we wouldn't have anything to talk about and that would just be boring....
    • zephris, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1You just happen to the have the chemistry book that has the only reaction that forms a crystalline lattice when exposed to a seed? *****.

      Drink a few beers and you'll see the same effect.
    • abxy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1@zephris

      "You just happen to the have the chemistry book that has the only reaction that forms a crystalline lattice when exposed to a seed? *****.

      Drink a few beers and you'll see the same effect."

      I never said that I have a Chemistry book that has the only reaction that forms a crystalline lattice when exposed to a seed. Stop inferring ***** as if you're responding to what you thought I meant. I said what I said, and it's what I meant. Again, it's not water; it's a chemical solution closely related to vinegar. And I said that I'll flip through the Chemistry book I have to tell everyone what it is.
    • WaterDragon, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Optikalblitz explained it in a comment, above: (Just your basic super-cooling of WATER)

      "after some clicking...

      a how-to: http://johnmudd.infogami.com/blog/3j1ke.
    • zephris, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I can read your post. It's still there. You're straight up saying that that it's not water. The ONLY way you could know that it's a chemical "closely related to vinegar" is if it were the ONLY way to have that reaction and if it were the ONLY thing/liquid that can do that, implying that water CANNOT do that (when in fact it can). I read what you said. And that's exactly what you meant to say. I'm not saying there isn't another chemical reaction that can do that, but claiming to know something for a fact went you weren't even there and you "have a chemistry book" doesn't mean that your guess is correct. So, like I said...it's not necessarily this other chemical that you mention. Damn, just admit that you might be right and wrong at the same time.
    • redheadguy719, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2supersaturated solution. excess solute, when you add a crystal it begins to leave the solution....etc. i posted this above
  • zephris, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4You know, I just read through all the comments and it's surprising how many ***** idiots there are in the world. Go the ***** back to school and take a chemistry class before you start trying to debunk this. Jesus. And just when I had hope for humanity...
    • gabrielloewen, on 10/12/2007, -7/+0Ok, so are you a chemist? Have you even taken an introductory course in chemistry? If you have then you must have studied polymers. Tell me, what happens in a polymer reaction?
    • zephris, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2Gabby, shut the ***** up. I've taken SEVERAL courses in chemistry. Mr. Chemistry, you should know exactly about supercooled liquids. You're sooo ***** smart, why don't YOU take a camera to a polymer reaction? ***** *****. I remember now why I don't socialize much on the internet...***** retards like you can't stand it when someone disagrees with you. But either way, until you get that film on youtube, shut the ***** up.
  • Amorrn, on 10/12/2007, -5/+16Now let's see him turn it into wine.
    • JSchroeder, on 10/12/2007, -11/+2Jesus is turning in his grave. Have some respect.
    • ProphetPX, on 10/12/2007, -8/+4Jesus isn't in any grave. Not since 2000 years ago.
    • JSchroeder, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Wow. No respect for a classic Simpsons line on Digg.
  • Octagons, on 10/12/2007, -10/+0seen this vid before and its because tha water is boiling and since the aiir outside is already so cold the boiling water, who's molacules are moving apart from each the other because there so hot become colder faster and the reaction occers before the water can even hit's the ground
    • gabrielloewen, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3That doesn't make any sense... buried as inaccurate. What reaction causes boiling water instantly freeze? Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius and freezes at 0 degrees Celsius. That is a huge temperature change.
    • Smokeymcpot, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5I feel stupider for having read that.
    • zephris, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1Octagon is actually correct in his premise even though that's not what's going on here. The added energy of the hot water will allow the molecules to settle into a lattice structure more quickly.

      And, Mr. Chemist, (showing your ass here), you need no chemical reaction to instantly freeze water. Any first year chemistry student will cite the concept of a triple point at you. Pathetic.
  • nazsco, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Has to do with the fact that molecules put some energy in not changing their current state. this happens to boiling water, releasing gases from liquids and freezing.

    The easier and more obvious way to observe this is to put some clear gasified liquid (soda) in a glass. You will see that on the microscopic imperfections of the glass, the gas gets released. No matter how you shake the glass, you notice that the bubbles usual forms at the same places, and always on the wall or base of the cup. never on the middle of the liquid.

    The gas gets released because the concentration of CO2 in the ambiente is smaller then in the liquid, as your high school chemestry classes told you. But it doesn't happen right away, you need some concentration point to unit the molecules until they gain strenght to move out.

    now, i'm no expert, and i don't have a clue about the names of this in english. go find your self.
  • Harashi, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0Are there any scientists out there on Digg who can come take a look at this thread and shed some light on this video? Or are there any scientists who have already posted and are pretty sure about what they've seen??
    • zephris, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Google is God. Google knows all. Use Google. It will help.
    • Harashi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0=D Hehe, ya Google is very good, but then again there are some random, inaccurate websites posted on Google just labeled as "Supercooled Liquid Experiment" etc. etc. I agree with you though, Google is good in a lot of cases! (some people post random stuff for random reasons, or if not for random reasons, just cause they are sick in the mind.)
  • gabrielloewen, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Wow, sorry I hit a nerve Zephris. How did this become a flame war?
    • WaterDragon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Hey, maybe you can use all that water to put out the flame!
    • zephris, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1You know what? I have absolutely no friggin idea. Truce.
    • Harashi, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Congrats on the truce =D! (just thought I'd say "Happy Truce!")
  • SteveRogers, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Cool video. I've always wondered what dog ***** would look like if it were made of ice. And to think I almost spent all that money hiring an ice sculptor.
  • solomonshot, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Does anyone know of this guy of manbe it a fake CG or something like that anymore information please send it to me ??!!!!!
    • zephris, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I suppose it could be but there's a bunch of other videos all over the net of the same thing and I doubt that many people will make a CG video of this and then keep it secret just to confuse Diggers. :)
  • aridese, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3It could also be a supersaturated solution of something like sodium thiocyanate (not that sure on the name).

    What you do is take a beaker of water, and dissolve the sodium thiocyanate (photographer's hypo) in it. There comes a point when no more hypo will dissolve in the water (think of salt or sugar in your tea). But if you heat up the liquid, more hypo will be able to dissolve. If you're careful, the hypo will remain dissolved when the liquid cools down. This is a supersaturated solution -- when a lot more stuff is dissolved than normal.

    The catch is, if you jostle it or add some more hypo into it, it will instantly solidify. If you leave a little solid hypo in the bottom of the bowl, then if you're sneaky about it pouring the liquid over the solid hypo you can have it crystallize just like in the video.

    Wikipedia it for more.
  • Independentsam, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0The final sentence of "The Books of Bokonon "

    If I were a younger man, I would write a history of human stupidity; and I would climb to the top of Mount McCabe and lie down on my back with my history for a pillow; and I would take from the ground some of the blue-white poison that makes statues of men; and I would make a statue of myself, lying on my back, grinning horribly, and thumbing my nose at You Know Who.

    A cryptic one

  • aridese, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I'm sorry -- that was sodium thiosulphate, not thiocyanate.

    Here's some links for more:
    http://www.rmets.org/education/secondary/scisky1.php -- how to do the experiment in more detail
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersaturated -- wikipedia entry
    • ChildeRoland420, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Dugg down for not using your own thread for this correction.
  • gabrielloewen, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0@Zephris
    Sure, truce. Just seems silly to get into an argument about this. The fact is that nobody except for whoever made the video knows what was in the water bottle. Whether it be super-cooled water or a vineger like solution as abxy stated above. And I never said it could't be a super-cooled liquid, but the idea that a polymer was behind it was my first thought. Anyways, not big deal, but interesting video.
  • Mitches11111, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Supercooled Liquid H2O would solidify the moment he turned the bottle, it wouldn't even make it out... Pure H2O has to be supercooled carefully. Once the entire temperature of the H2O reaches 0 degrees Celsius a slight agitation will be enough kinetic energy to induce the structural change to create ice. Probably ICE 9...

    -a chemist
    • Harashi, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0True true, although it might be that at a certain height supercooled liquid H2O being dropped from a bottle would stay supercooled until impacting the surface of the cup and beginning the process of melting, like supercooled rain, although I might be mixing up my chemistry =D. (no expert here hehe!)
  • Indryd, on 10/12/2007, -6/+6What the hell is wrong with you people? Though I have fine credentials, I could just as easily be a 10-year old boy as a 30-year old with 2 degrees and working on a 3rd, so I won't bother. However, please pay attention to the following 4 items:

    1. There are all these smug morons spouting nonsense about how water can only freeze if it has impurities in it. What?

    2. Freezing-point depression is the difference between the freezing points of a pure solvent and a solution mixed with a solute. It is directly proportional to the molal concentration of the solution, or more precisely, to the solute activity, according to the equation:

    ΔTf = i · Kf · activity

    * activity is in units of mol/kg, and is equal to an activity coefficient times the molality
    * ΔTf, the freezing point depression is defined as T - Tf, where T is the freezing point of the solution and Tf is the freezing point of the pure solvent.
    * Kf, the cryoscopic constant, is a colligative property, given by RTf2/ΔHf, where R is the gas constant, and Tf is the normal freezing point of the solvent and ΔHf is the heat of fusion per kilogram of the solvent
    o Kf for water is 1.858 K·kg/mol (or more commonly used, 1.858 C/m) which means that per mole of solute dissolved in a kilogram of water the freezing point depression is 1.858 kelvins.
    * i is the i factor or the van 't Hoff factor (see van 't Hoff), accounts for the number of individual ions formed by a compound in solution.

    3. Turkey frying yokels catch themselves on fire because they put the turkey in wet(water goes from ~20deg to 212 in an instant, turns to steam, superheats, and shoots out of the oil en masse--and because they don't understand displacement. (I'm in M.D. training at Hopkins right now, but I started life as an adult by frying donuts for 8 years. I know a thing or two about grease fires).

    4. Supercooling and super-heating (while maintaining state--i.e. water staying liquid) are dependent osmolarity and pressure. Higher osmolarity and higher pressure allows for higher temperature change without state change.

    5. I don't know why I'm so angry about this. Oh yeah, because I go to digg to get a break from dealing with mainstream media and your typical drooling net-troll keyboard monkeys. Then I come here and I see people getting belittled for stating basic scientific principles while people who learned their science from the Art Bell show are ruling the roost! Science by consensus ftw!
    • cr3ative, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Indryd -

      In reference to your delightfully polite Point 1,

      "The freezing point of water is 0°C (32°F, 273 K). In the absence of nucleators water will supercool to −42°C (−43.6°F, 231 K) before freezing. But in the presence of nucleating substances the freezing point of water is the same as the melting point. Nucleating agents, such as dust, are commonly present in the environment, which is why rain water and tap water will normally freeze at the melting point of water."

      While others may have not articulated their points very well, they are in essence correct.
  • Indryd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Edit upstairs: ~45 - 212 degrees.

    Sometimes I forget to whom I am writing, or maybe can't decide and choose one of each.

    I was editing it when my time ran out.
  • skyfire1, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10I would pour it over my cat. Then I would have a ice cat.
    • Harashi, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Thats mean... think of the cat... (j/k if its a joke hehe, hard to tell over the net, but if your not.....)
    • pbaehr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@harashi:

      No, I'm pretty sure they really want an ice cat.

      Just think of the possibilities! They were clearly not kidding.
  • chuckpenzone, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Hmmm - I'm pretty sure this is some fake ice/snow stuff you can get at craft shops around x-mas time. We had some of this but I think it's all gone or I'd take quick video. Here is a link to a video of something similar.

    Essentially it's not really cold or even ice for that matter.

    http://www.thegreenhead.com/2006/12/instant-snow-just-add-water.php

  • bergfly, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Folks, look see, he is holding the bottle in his bare hand. Were it -21 he would get some serious pain from doing that! Also we don't see the bottom of the beaker in the first half of the shot and there is no condensation on the outside of what is claimed to be a supercooled bottle. Way I see it all this points to a chemical reaction. Not saying your can't supercool water, just saying you can't create this video of it under normal circumstances and hence we must deduce.................Kem- mystery
  • Travisx2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If any govt types know something about this more than we do, and it IS Ice-9, Please Take off and Nuke the Site from orbit.. It's the only way to be sure!

    Really.
  • NiGHTSChao, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1But is it still edible? or does it have some chemical in it?
  • BeyondGoodNEvil, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Off topic, but I love that video player format, showing the player controls only on mouse hovering. I'm waiting for the day that someone makes a stand alone player like that. It must originally come from vimeo.com, they use that same player.

    Any developers out there who can make it happen? If so, a few suggestions, all of them showing only on mouse hover:

    Make the volume control be on the right side, vertically, from near the bottom all the way to the top. The play button should just be the whole screen that isn't the progress bar (the whole bottom) or volume bar (right side). To pause, again, the whole screen. Vimeo's player is as nearly perfect as I have found, but could be just that much better.
    • brkn, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1On Mac, check out NicePlayer. It rocks.

      http://niceplayer.sourceforge.net/
    • BeyondGoodNEvil, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Yeah that's definitely heading in the right direction. I only have Windows, so can't use it, but I have faith that the ideals I posted will eventually come to be standard. Too many players try to appeal to people who like color themes, but they waste room. Content and functionality should be the most important factors to consider.
  • darklord5907, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4It is supercooling.

    Video by what looks like the same people, with the same effect.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g1BDpU7ZQo
    • stave, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Dugg up for being the only person to credibly back up his opinion.
  • diggimator, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Youtube has something similar:

    Corona Ice Freeze
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i11hVEVPdM

    I was just reading about this at a bookstore yesterday. The trick explained in the book used a special liquid... basically just a science experiment.
  • Pulp, on 11/04/2007, -5/+1Buried for being inaccurate. That's definitely water being absorbed by some sort of polymer and not turning into ice.
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