A Study of the Occurrence of Supercooling of Water

TL;DR

This paper presents an accessible experimental setup for studying water supercooling, analyzing how different parameters and chilling media influence the supercooling phenomenon in various water samples.

Contribution

It introduces a simple apparatus for studying supercooling and correlates supercooling occurrence with ice nucleation ability of chilling media.

Findings

Supercooling can be observed with simple laboratory equipment.

Prompt ice nucleation prevents supercooling.

Even dirty river water can supercool by up to 5°C.

Abstract

Supercooling of water can be easily studied with a simple apparatus suitable for the student laboratory. We describe such an apparatus and its capabilities. The parameters influencing supercooling include the initial temperature of the water and the temperature and the type of chilling medium. We correlate the occurrence of supercooling with the ability of the chilling medium to promptly nucleate ice; if it nucleates promptly, the layer of ice crystals formed on the boundary will initiate freezing of the bulk water without supercooling. If the chilling medium is unable to nucleate ice promptly, ice nucleation is delayed and the water supercools. Students can study and compare supercooling of distilled and natural water. Even quite dirty river water may be supercooled by as much as 5 C.