Freezing is a phase transition in which a liquid turns into a solid when its temperature is lowered below its freezing point.[ — via
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For most substances, the melting and freezing points are the same temperature; however, certain substances possess differing solid-liquid transition temperatures. For example, agar displays a hysteresis in its melting point and freezing point. It melts at and solidifies from .
Crystallization
Most liquids freeze by crystallization, formation of
crystal from the uniform liquid. This is a first-order thermodynamic
phase transition, which means that as long as solid and liquid coexist, the temperature of the whole system remains very nearly equal to the
melting point due to the slow removal of heat when in contact with air, which is a poor heat conductor. Because of the latent heat of fusion, the freezing is greatly slowed and the temperature will not drop anymore once the freezing starts but will continue dropping once it finishes.
Crystallization consists of two major events, nucleation and crystal growth. " Nucleation" is the step wherein the molecules start to gather into clusters, on the nanometer scale, arranging in a defined and periodic manner that defines the crystal structure. " Crystal growth" is the subsequent growth of the nuclei that succeed in achieving the critical cluster size.
Supercooling
Crystallization of pure liquids usually begins at a lower temperature than the
melting point, due to high activation energy of homogeneous nucleation. The creation of a nucleus implies the formation of an interface at the boundaries of the new phase. Some energy is expended to form this interface, based on the
surface energy of each phase. If a hypothetical nucleus is too small, the energy that would be released by forming its volume is not enough to create its surface, and nucleation does not proceed. Freezing does not start until the temperature is low enough to provide enough energy to form stable nuclei. In presence of irregularities on the surface of the containing vessel, solid or gaseous impurities, pre-formed solid crystals, or other nucleators, heterogeneous nucleation may occur, where some energy is released by the partial destruction of the previous interface, raising the supercooling point to be near or equal to the melting point. The melting point of
water at 1 atmosphere of pressure is very close to , and in the presence of
Nucleation the freezing point of water is close to the melting point, but in the absence of nucleators water can
Supercooling to before freezing.
Under high pressure (2,000 atmospheres) water will supercool to as low as before freezing.
Exothermicity
Freezing is almost always an
exothermic process, meaning that as liquid changes into solid, heat and pressure are released. This is often seen as counter-intuitive, since the temperature of the material does not rise during freezing, except if the liquid were
supercooled. But this can be understood since heat must be continually removed from the freezing liquid or the freezing process will stop. The energy released upon freezing is a
latent heat, and is known as the enthalpy of fusion and is exactly the same as the energy required to
melting the same amount of the solid.
Low-temperature helium is the only known exception to the general rule.
Vitrification
Certain materials, such as
glass and
glycerol, may harden without crystallizing; these are called
. Amorphous materials, as well as some polymers, do not have a freezing point, as there is no abrupt phase change at any specific temperature. Instead, there is a gradual change in their
Viscoelasticity properties over a range of temperatures. Such materials are characterized by a glass transition that occurs at a glass transition temperature, which may be roughly defined as the "knee" point of the material's density vs. temperature graph. Because vitrification is a non-equilibrium process, it does not qualify as freezing, which requires an equilibrium between the crystalline and liquid state.
Freezing of living organisms
Many living organisms are able to tolerate prolonged periods of time at temperatures below the freezing point of water. Most living organisms accumulate
such as anti-nucleating proteins, polyols, and glucose to protect themselves against frost damage by sharp ice crystals. Most plants, in particular, can safely reach temperatures of −4 °C to −12 °C. Certain
bacteria, notably
Pseudomonas syringae, produce specialized proteins that serve as potent ice nucleators, which they use to force ice formation on the surface of various fruits and plants at about −2 °C.
The freezing causes injuries in the epithelia and makes the nutrients in the underlying plant tissues available to the bacteria.
Bacteria
Three species of bacteria,
Carnobacterium pleistocenium, as well as
Chryseobacterium greenlandensis and
Herminiimonas glaciei, have reportedly been revived after surviving for thousands of years frozen in ice.
Plants
Many plants undergo a process called hardening, which allows them to survive temperatures below 0 °C for weeks to months.
Animals
The nematode
Haemonchus contortus can survive 44 weeks frozen at
liquid nitrogen temperatures. Other nematodes that survive at temperatures below 0 °C include
Trichostrongylus colubriformis and
Panagrolaimus davidi. Many species of reptiles and amphibians survive freezing.
Human gametes and 2-, 4- and 8-cell embryos can survive freezing and are viable for up to 10 years, a process known as cryopreservation.
Experimental attempts to freeze human beings for later revival are known as cryonics.
Food preservation
Freezing is a common method of food preservation that slows both food decay and the growth of
. Besides the effect of lower temperatures on
, freezing makes water less available for
bacteria growth. Freezing is a widely used method of food preservation. Freezing generally preserves flavours, smell and nutritional content. Freezing became commercially viable.
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See also
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