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Have you ever wondered why ice floats on water or why cans and jars bulge or explode in the freezer? It's because when water freezes, it expands. But here's a mind-bending twist: when water is compressed, it melts. Intrigued? Let's dive into the fascinating world of water's phase diagram and uncover the secrets behind this icy enigma.
What happens when you try to freeze water while it's compressed? Imagine cooling water below 0 degrees Celsius inside a super strong pressure vessel that can't bulge or stretch. If the water is liquid, it's not under pressure, so it should freeze. But what if it's already frozen? It expands, creating pressure, which should cause it to melt. This cycle creates a paradox: the pressure that causes melting is generated by the expansion that requires freezing.
Enter the phase diagram, a map that tells us whether a substance is solid, liquid, or gas under different temperature and pressure conditions. In water's phase diagram, we see that at normal atmospheric pressure, cooling water results in a transition from liquid to solid. However, if we increase the pressure, the solid water returns to a liquid state.
Now, let's consider what happens when we don't let water expand while it freezes. At temperatures below 0 degrees Celsius, water wants to freeze, but as it does, it expands and pressurizes the container. Eventually, the pressure builds up enough to prevent any more liquid water from freezing at that temperature. As we follow the line between liquid and solid on the phase diagram, moving towards colder temperatures and higher pressure, we see that the colder the container, the higher the percentage of ice and the pressure inside.
But what about the container turning completely to ice? When the temperature is low enough and the pressure high enough, the remaining liquid water can freeze into a different phase of ice called ice III. Unlike regular ice (ice Ih), ice III contracts and becomes denser when it freezes, creating more space and allowing the entire container to freeze solid.
So, is there a paradox? Not really. It turns out that the phase of water can be non-binary. This fascinating discovery opens up a world of possibilities for understanding the behavior of water under extreme conditions.
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