Saturday, July 26, 2014

WEIRD WATER


Most people are aware that water can have different states, such as a liquid or as ice. And most people are also aware that liquid water ordinarily freezes into ice at 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit).

Despite all the essential uses of water and extensive general knowledge of its properties, scientist still are researching and learning about more of its sometimes weird characteristics.

For example, it has been determined that "pure" water can remain in a liquid state well below the freezing point of 0 degrees Celsius. Scientists now have supercooled water to -46 degrees Celsius in the liquid state. According to a recent report, this is the lowest temperature recorded where water has remained a liquid.*

Some of water's odd properties, such as ability to absorb heat, change at low temperatures. Yet, supercooled liquid water looks like ordinary tap water, except it will freeze at supercooled temperatures when it touches a foreign surface, such as a dust particle. Some researchers have proposed that if water is cooled to -50 degrees Celsius, it may split into two liquid states.

Of course, while research into the unusual properties of water can be interesting, it does not help much those many parts of the world that suffer the unavailability of adequate supplies of clean fresh water essential for life.

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*See"Supercooled Water Hits Record Low",
Science News, July 12, 2014, p. 18

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