Expert: Paul Wagner - 11/7/2006

Question
Hi, I'm doing a science fair project on freezing liquids. I was wondering if you could give me any advice on freezing liquids? Thanks a lot!  

Answer
HI Emily;

Hmmm.  Well, freezing depends a lot on the liquid.  For example, you can't really freeze the alcohol in wine in your freezer.  It doesn't get cold enough.  Water freezes at 32 degrees F (0 Celsius) but alcohol doesn't freeze until it get to about -179 F. or -117 Celsius.  That's REALLY cold.

That means that if you put a bottle of wine into the freezer, the water in it will more or less freeze, but the alcohol in the wine will not.  And olive oil will freeze in your fridge, without ever having to make it into your freezer.  By the way, don't ever try to freeze a bottle of Champagne or sparking wine.  When the water freezes, it releases all of the gas out of suspension in the liquid...and the bottle could explode!

You might try mixing different chemicals into water:  salt, sugar, alcohol, etc,. and see what they do to the freezing point of water--it's pretty darn interesting!

Paul Wagner