The Strange, Counterintuitive Properties of Water, Explained

Water is water, right ? When I was in school during the dark ages I was taught that water could exist in three states..liquid, Steam/vapor or Ice..It freezes at 32F or zero C. unless it has salt, right... Nope the link has some interesting findings about water.
www.seeker.com...

It’s important to understand that ice freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit only when it contains impurities. Absolutely pure water, on the other hand, might not freeze despite sitting for years in subzero temperatures. In 2011, scientists discovered that water can remain a liquid until around minus 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

Well that is something I never knew.. Also other liquids get denser/heavier as they get colder or freeze.. Not water.. Think of ice cubes floating in your Iced Tea..

Now scientists in Sweden have learned that water’s counterintuitive behavior stems from its uncanny ability to exist in two liquid states. Writing in the journal Science, they explained how sophisticated sensors helped them shed light on mysteries that researchers have spent more than a century trying to unravel.

It is not a long article so I really can not post more... If interested check the article out... I found it worth a read..

no wayyyy.....no way man

ya see, we just thought we knew all about water

cool, but now what about does warm water freeze faster or no....

It would really suck to jump into unfrozen water only to discover it was 55 below zero.
Talk about shrunken scrotums.

There's lots of videos of this in action. Look up "supercooled" water. It's easy to cool water to well below 32F without it turning to ice.

originally posted by: skunkape23
It would really suck to jump into unfrozen water only to discover it was 55 below zero.
Talk about shrunken scrotums.

I would guess you would have about three seconds of very unpleasant consciousness. When someone went to remove your body I would not be surprised if important pieces tended to break off..

originally posted by: skunkape23
It would really suck to jump into unfrozen water only to discover it was 55 below zero.
Talk about shrunken scrotums.

It also treats your body as an impurity and would instantly freeze. It would be a bad day for you.

a reply to: 727Sky

Not too many decades ago, scientists thought and said that water was unique to earth, not found elsewhere as far as we knew. Sagan called it the elixir of life and said where water was found we probably would find life. Now, it seems to be everywhere.

a reply to: GBP/JPY

what about does warm water freeze faster or no

It does but it may not be observable depending on the cooling conditions, there is no accepted explanation to it but the other day I read it may be that hot water have stronger clusters of hydrogen bonds than cold water, facilitating the nucleation of crystals.

It is called the mpemba effect.

a reply to: 727Sky

In 2011, scientists discovered that water can remain a liquid until around minus 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a laboratory.

In the real world (or for planetary exploration 'looking for life' ) there are no 'pure liquid water' reservoirs.

originally posted by: skunkape23
It would really suck to jump into unfrozen water only to discover it was 55 below zero.
Talk about shrunken scrotums.

Look at those pictures of frozen animals trapped in ice. Imagine if they had jumped into what they thought was liquid water, and the minute they did so, the water started turning to ice all around them.

a reply to: intrptr

In the real world (or for planetary exploration 'looking for life' ) there are no 'pure liquid water' reservoirs.

Considering the size of the universe and our lack of knowledge about what is in it , this would be a foolish statement to make.

I remembered watching an underwater documentary and they showed this lake under the ocean. That could be the two forms of liquid that water can take.

To be a good scientist sometimes you have to go on the premise that we are wrong about a lot of things. I bet there is a lot about water we don't know and may never know.

H20. I bet we could use it for far more then we are. Stars are fueled by hydrogen and most combustion in any way needs oxygen. Water has it all. It boggles the mind.

That's just my opinion and its values is what you place on it.

originally posted by: scraedtosleep
a reply to: intrptr

In the real world (or for planetary exploration 'looking for life' ) there are no 'pure liquid water' reservoirs.

Considering the size of the universe and our lack of knowledge about what is in it , this would be a foolish statement to make.

So far, the spectrographic charts side with me. But I'll grant you this, there are plenty of civilizations out there, they have laboratories too.

a reply to: Indigent

It can be observed.

When you are in an extreme cold climate and throw a cup of warm water in the air it freezes into a cloud of ice crystals.
Cold water is said to do not freeze instantly.

a reply to: 727Sky

Pure water won't boil either. I'm on my phone so I can't but Google microwave water exploding.

The phase change requires a nucleation site, its a well known phenomenon. Similarly with liquids, surface tension plays a part.

Supercooled or Superheated water will freeze/start to boil if given long enough, just via random thermal chance... but yes the process initiates more rapidly with impurities... any impurities... which fate would have it, is the normal state of play for the universe.

Great find! As critical as water is to human life one would think we'd know everything about it by now. The fact is water is a somewhat mystical substance as it keeps eluding science in defining not just it's properties but it's very nature. Water carries not just chemical messages but mental and emotional ones as shown by Masaru Emoto. I've often wondered if water didn't invent life, we are walking bags of water after all. The highest concentrations of water are in the brain and eyes. One has to wonder.