Is the 136 K calorimetric step the glass transition of water? · revision history
Revision 2
Accepted · cosmetic change · record
Changes against revision 1:
- Title · changed
- Revision 1: Is the 136 K calorimetric step the glass transition of water
- Revision 2: Is the 136 K calorimetric step the glass transition of water?
- Plain
- Glassy water made by very fast cooling shows a small heat-capacity step near 136 K, long taken as its glass transition, and a second step near 116 K was reported in high-density amorphous ice. Whether these steps mark glasses turning into ultraviscous liquids or something else is disputed.
- Precise
- Hyperquenched glassy water and low-density amorphous ice show a weak calorimetric step near $136\,\mathrm{K}$ at ambient pressure, and pressure-annealed high-density amorphous ice a step near $116\,\mathrm{K}$ (2013). Determine whether each step is a glass transition to a diffusive ultraviscous liquid (LDL or HDL) with translational relaxation time about $1\mathrm{e}2\,\mathrm{s}$, or an orientational or sub-$T_{g}$ relaxation with $T_{g}$ of water higher (near $165\,\mathrm{K}$, as argued from comparison with hyperquenched inorganic glasses in 2004). An answer is a measurement of translational diffusion or viscous flow just above each step.
- Settled by
- Direct measurement of translational diffusion (isotope intermixing, viscous flow, or dielectric response tied to translation) just above 136 K and 116 K, showing liquid-like or glass-like mobility.
- Kind
- well-posed
- Answer type
- yes-no
- References
- (empty)
- Literature status
- contested
- Status note
- Two glass transitions were reported in 2013 (Amann-Winkel et al., PNAS, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1311718110) against the 2004 reassignment of $T_g$ near 165 K (Yue and Angell, Nature, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02295).
- Posed since
- (empty)
Decisions
- Accepted (cosmetic change) · 2026-10-15 · record