Segment #4 - Instant Waterbending

Instant Waterbending

Segment 4

Wouldn't it be cool to be able to flash freeze a bottle of water just by touching it? How about being able to freeze flowing water?

Welcome to the Science Playground! Today we're going to be exploring supercooled solutions by INSTANT WATERBENDING!

A supercooled solution is any solution that has been brought below its typical freezing point, yet remains a liquid.

The ingredients you're going to need for this experiment includes:

• Filled Water Bottle
• Ice

The materials you're going to need for this experiment includes:

• Bowl
• Freezer
• Thermometer 

To start this experiment, all you have to do is throw some water bottles into the freezer. The more you place in there, the better chance of success you'll have. The freezer you use needs to be set around -24*C or -11*F. You can check this by leaving a thermometer inside of your closed freezer for around an hour or until the thermometer stops dropping. 

The minute the door closes, make a note of the time. To find the perfect time for your bottle to be in the freezer, check after an hour and 45 minutes. If your water has not frozen yet, leave it for another 15 minutes. Repeat this step until the bottle of water has frozen.  Make note of that time and subtract 15 minutes from it; that will give you the best time to take your water out of the freezer before it freezes. You will notice that it will be a liquid, however you might see flakes of ice floating in the water. Eg./ After 2 hours and 45 minutes, my bottle of water froze. The perfect time for my freezer would be 2 hours and 30 minutes. 

Lets look at this experiment a little closer. As our bottle sits in the freezer, energy is removed and the temperature begins to drop. After a few hours, enough energy has been removed to drop below its freezing point yet remains a liquid. This water is well below its freezing point. however it hasn't frozen because there are no impurities or no points of nucleation. The water does want to freeze, that's why something as simple as a jolt to the side of the bottle can be enough to nucleate the ice formation. Just like magic, you have instant ice. 

Another way to jump start your freezing is to use a piece of ice. Put your ice into a bowl and pour your water on top. You should see it freeze and build instantly, thus creating your own ice sculptures every time your water makes contact with your ice.

You can make this even easier by using a whole bowl of ice. Pour your water on top of the ice and you will begin to see the formation. If you start pouring your water and you notice that it doesn't look like it's building, it means that your water isn't cold enough and should be placed in your freezer for another 5-10 minutes.

If you leave your bottles too long in the freezer, it will become super sensitive. Even wiping the side of the bottle can initiate the freeze. 

Lastly, if you pour your water into a chilled bowl, you can also create ice sculptures that way as well. 

In conclusion, once the water particles come in contact with ice crystals, that will cause the water to freeze.

So that's it for today guys! I hope you all enjoyed today's experiment, stay tuned for our next segment on THE CHEMISTRY OF DIET COKE!

If you have any questions about this experiment or science in general, feel free to email me at englishprojectscience@gmail.com