Nanotubes can 'freeze' boiling water

Scientists have long known that under appropriate conditions, a small amount of water can be treated to change the boiling point or freezing point. For example, a pitcher of water needs less energy to reach the boiling point on Mount Everest, and the liquid under high pressure only needs less heat to be converted into steam.

According to Engadget, recently a team of researchers at MIT, based on this phenomenon - but went a step further - observed that water in nanotubes could actually freeze into solid at temperatures exceeding the point. Natural boiling.

Water in nanotubes can actually freeze into solid at temperatures exceeding the natural boiling point.

"If you" confine "the liquid in a sheet of metal with tiny holes of nanoscale (called nanocavity ), you can actually alter the phases . " Michael Strano explained from MIT. In the test environment with nanotubes, water solidifies at a temperature of 222 ° F (105 ° C). Researchers expect the freezing and boiling temperature of liquids to change, but not to such a wide extent. "The effect is much greater than anyone has anticipated. All that is known before is really worth it."

The team used a technique called vibrational spectroscopy to confirm that the water in the nanotube turned into a solid phase, but the researchers are currently hesitant to confirm that "solid" water is frozen ice. cold. "It's not necessarily a tape but it's a phase . similar to ice," Strano adds.

This phenomenon continues to be studied and in the future can be used to create "stable water lines" with many promising applications.