Mpemba effect and phase transitions in the adiabatic cooling of water before freezing
Chemical Physics
2009-11-13 v1 Atomic and Molecular Clusters
General Physics
Abstract
An accurate experimental investigation on the Mpemba effect (that is, the freezing of initially hot water before cold one) is carried out, showing that in the adiabatic cooling of water a relevant role is played by supercooling as well as by phase transitions taking place at 6 +/- 1 oC, 3.5 +/- 0.5 oC and 1.3 +/- 0.6 oC, respectively. The last transition, occurring with a non negligible probability of 0.21, has not been detected earlier. Supported by the experimental results achieved, a thorough theoretical analysis of supercooling and such phase transitions, which are interpreted in terms of different ordering of clusters of molecules in water, is given.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0704.1381,
title = {Mpemba effect and phase transitions in the adiabatic cooling of water before freezing},
author = {S. Esposito and R. De Risi and L. Somma},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0704.1381},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
revtex, 4 pages, 2 figures