[f1000]

I just discovered a neat phenomenon. Acme bottled seltzer water will supercool if left in a freezer. Opening the cap causes the water to fizz, which in turn causes the supercooled liquid to turn into slush.

[BlueSky]

Dude, you're just giving Wile E. Coyote ideas.

[MaxPower2k3]

Originally posted by f1000:
I just discovered a neat phenomenon. Acme bottled seltzer water will supercool if left in a freezer. Opening the cap causes the water to fizz, which in turn causes the supercooled liquid to turn into slush.

so it's completely liquid until you open it? doesn't expand or anything? that's pretty cool ( )... maybe i'll try that.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by MaxPower2k3:
so it's completely liquid until you open it? doesn't expand or anything?

It's pressurized until he opens it, so it doesn't freeze.

[MaxPower2k3]

Originally posted by Spheric Harlot:
It's pressurized until he opens it, so it doesn't freeze.

so how come normal water in a capped bottle will freeze/expand until it bursts the bottle, and not just until it fills it/compresses the air to the point where the pressure is high enough to keep any more from freezing?

[f1000]

Originally posted by MaxPower2k3:
so it's completely liquid until you open it? doesn't expand or anything? that's pretty cool ( )... maybe i'll try that.

There is probably another mechanism at work here. The CO2 is depressing the freezing point of the water, so that when the CO2 is released the freezing point suddenly increases.

In this case, the water is probably not supercooled.

[turtle777]

Originally posted by MaxPower2k3:
so how come normal water in a capped bottle will freeze/expand until it bursts the bottle, and not just until it fills it/compresses the air to the point where the pressure is high enough to keep any more from freezing?

Repeat after me:

CO2, CO2, CO2, CO2....

-t

[Lancer409]

happened to me with bottled soda. was a 7up. i was like, oh ****, i left it in too long, but to my surprise, it looked perfectly liquid. once i opened it, it instantly turned into slush (a good thing) ... man that was sweet.

[Kilbey]

Originally posted by turtle777:
Repeat after me:

CO2, CO2, CO2, CO2....

-t

CO2, CO2, CO2, CO2....

[MaxPower2k3]

Originally posted by turtle777:
Repeat after me:

CO2, CO2, CO2, CO2....

-t

yeah i didn't think of that until f1000 explained it and you... so eloquently repeated it.

[DeathToWindows]

It is possible to freeze such a bottle solid... I've done it. If you manage to do so, OPEN IT OUTSIDE unless you want to irrigate the room that you are in

[Mastrap]

A friend of mine had left a bottle of non carbonated water in the car over night. That night the temperature went down to -32 Celsius. The water staid liquid, but the second the car moved (him opening the door) the bottle got a jolt and the water solidified instantly. It was pretty cool to watch.

[f1000]

I should mention that there's also a third, and probably most significant, factor at work here: the adiabatic expansion of CO2.

One of the major soda companies tried to make a self-cooling soda can based on this principle, but apparently nothing ever came of it.

Figuring out which of these three factors is most responsible for the sudden slushifying of my zero calorie, sodium free seltzer is a pchem problem, if I ever saw one.

[turtle777]

Originally posted by Kilbey:
CO2, CO2, CO2, CO2....

Amazing

-t