CHEM In the literature: contested

Origin of the thermodynamic anomalies of supercooled water

In plain words

As water is cooled below 0 C without freezing, its response functions grow as if heading toward a singularity. Several competing explanations exist and experiments have not yet chosen among them.

Precise statement

Explain the growth of the isothermal compressibility $\kappa_T$, the isobaric heat capacity $C_P$ and the magnitude of the thermal expansion coefficient $\alpha_P$ in supercooled liquid water at ambient pressure down to about 230 K, distinguishing between the liquid-liquid critical point scenario, the singularity-free scenario, the critical-point-free scenario and the stability-limit conjecture. An answer is a thermodynamic model consistent with all measured response functions in the accessible range and with predictions that experiment can test.

What would settle it

Measurements of response functions inside the region of rapid crystallization (230 to 160 K) at pressures up to $3e9\,\mathrm{dyn}/\mathrm{cm}^2$, compared with each scenario's predictions.

Related problems

See also