Freeze...

[Guest AdamBrill]

I've got a question that is kind of weird, so I'm not sure what branch of science it would go under. Anyway, what I am wondering is about the term "freeze". Is that term only used for water or can any element "freeze"? That's basically my question... Any comments are appreciated.

[fafalone]

To freeze refers to the transition from liquid to solid, and can apply to anything that undergoes such a transition.

[Guest AdamBrill]

Ok... Let me give you an example of what someone asked me... I told them that when liquid turns into a solid, it is called freezing. They thought it was only for water, and I thought it was for everything. Anyway, what they did is went and got a jar of honey... It was crystalized(or whatever happens when honey sits out for a while). Was that considered "frozen", since if you heat it up, it "melts"? I didn't really know what to tell them about that one...

[Radical Edward]

I think that is more to do with the sugars crystallising from a suspension in the liquid than freezing as such.

[Guest AdamBrill]

Ok. Thanks for all the input.

[blike]

....but yes, essentially everything around you is "frozen".

 

the jar the honey was in, and the chair you're sitting in.

 

not really, there is a difference between something that is frozen, and something that is chemically bonded. something that is frozen is merely stuck in place because it lacks the degrees of freedom to move round to and significant degree, while something like the molecules in wood are chemically bonded to one another, the atoms have actually reacted with one another to form specific (though possibly macroscopically amorphous) structures.

[Guy34life]

anything can be frozen take methan for example:spam:

[BPHgravity]

To me, the term 'freeze" implies the term "cold".

 

I think a better definition would be a transfer from liquid to solid from the removal of heat.

 

Obviously, things become soild at lower temperatures that would not be considered cold in respect to water freezing, but then freeze would not be a good term for those cases.

 

[Guest AdamBrill]

Originally posted by BPHgravity

Obviously, things become soild at lower temperatures that would not be considered cold in respect to water freezing, but then freeze would not be a good term for those cases.

LOL... What is that magic degree where it is called "frozen" rather than just "hard"?

[BPHgravity]

Originally posted by AdamBrill

LOL... What is that magic degree where it is called "frozen" rather than just "hard"?

 

Well, I guess it's all relative and a matter ones perspective. Water boils at high altitudes but certainly isn't hot, and uranium dusts ignite at room temperature.

 

Who's to say! Not me! :haha:

[NavajoEverclear]

This question sparked some questions of my own. I worry they might be dumb questions I could figure out on my own if I thought harder, but anyway here goes.

 

So, different elements change phases at different temperature levels. Ummm I kind of forgot what question I was going to ask about this . . . so could someone explain exactly why this is so atomically? I mean I guess its because different atom masses--- but i cant really visualize from that.

 

Then my other question-- how do you explain wood(or similar things)? as far as I know it doesn't vaporise or liquify or anything-- because of its compound it cracks and such at temp and pressure changes, but it doesn't do the state change really. Well I haven't experimented this on my own but I cant imagine it doing this.

 

Well just thinking of wood sparked me another question completely unrelated to the original--- what is fire? What is it physically, why can only certain materials ignite(such as wood)?

 

Then back on temp--- so is pressure and temperature like somehow the same thing since water boils at higher altitudes? Or are they just proportionally related or something, and if so how so? Again I apologize for stupidity to simple science--- but if knowledge of these things do not come readily to mind I aught to ask eh?

[Radical Edward]

if you don't know, there is no problem asking

 

1) the temperatures that different things melt and vapourise at is pretty complicated, it depends on many factors such as how well bound the electrons are in the atom and so on, and whether they can form weak bonds between them and neigbouring atoms ( van der waals or metallic, rather than the stronger covalent and ionic seen in molecules and crystals) so that is why you can have something like mercury, which while the atoms are very heavy, is a liquid at room temperature, but something atomically lighter like lithium is a solid (though pretty soft) I don't know much of the physics in detail, but this explanation is about right I think.

 

2) as mentioned before, things like wood are formed from molecules, which are bonded much more tightly, they may also form really long molecules which wrap around one another, like in paper and plastics, and flow less easily than a liquid (though still be flexible and stretchy)

 

3)Fire is basically an exothermic reaction, that is, a chemical reaction that results in more heat being released from the substance than is put in to cause the reaction.... this isn't violation of energy conservation, the energy is already stored in atomic bonds. the reason some things burn is because they caule a self sustaining (until the fuel runs out!) exothermic reaction, so something like ash doesn't burn, because there is nothing for it to react with that would release heat.

 

4) They are merely related. things boil at different temperatures at different altitudes basically because the energy required for the atoms and molecules in the liquid to escape is that much lower.