Super Cooling

Yesterday morning I was putting the kids in the car and noticed a full bottled water lying on the car floor, yet liquid.  At about 4 degrees outside, this caught my attention.  There were three other containers of water, partially full, perfectly frozen on the floor next to this one.  I thought it might be my eyes playing tricks on me, so I leaned over and poked the bottle to see if somehow, it might have frozen clear.  No, it was unfrozen water inside.  Yet, seconds after I discovered this, the water turned to ice.  Starting from the point where I touched it, the once clear water almost magically changed to a white frozen slush.  It traveled from my poke all the way up to the bottle neck within seconds.  I thought I was going crazy.  I'd never seen anything like it in my life.  I started poking the bottle again--what in the world was going on?!  It still wasn't solid ice like the rest of the bottles, but it was definitely harder and was now fully white.

Turns out, I saw an event called "super cooling."  I had never heard of it, but now that I've seen it, I'm amazed that it's possible.  My husband was almost jealous that I saw the process, knowing right away what it was when I told him what I had seen.  He ran to the computer and googled "super cooling."  The whole thing still doesn't make perfect sense to me, but I can grasp the basic elements: pure water, untouched bottle, slowly cooled to below freezing.

I would encourage anyone looking for a fun experiment, and especially those homeschooling, to check this out.  It is unbelievable to watch, but, surprisingly, it seems possible to replicate.  Here are some youtube videos showing the basic idea:

Unbelievable, right?  That's what I thought.  But I saw it with my own eyes!  Now go, try it for yourself and be amazed.