What freezes above 32F?

Answer 1

Why Water Freezes at 32 Degrees F ( or does it? )

The bottom line is that 32 degrees F is not the magic number you have been told. Why? Because ice and water can exist together indefinitely, in perfect equilibrium. Ambient temperature has to be colder than 32 F to freeze water, and warmer than that to melt ice. A phase change occurs AT 32F but not IN 32F. If you put a glass of distilled water and another glass of ice made of distilled water inside a 32F refrigerator, would the water freeze while the ice melted? That doesn't make sense, does it. They would both remain as they are indefinitely.

Answer 2

Physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit worked on his temperature scale in the years prior to 1724. He first established freezing points for a salty mixture as 0° and the boiling point of water at 60°. He adjusted this scale several times, eventually establishing 64 degree intervals between freezing and human body temperature. Later scientists refined this to the modern usages of 32° (water freezes), 98.6° (normal human body) and 212° (water boils). The Fahrenheit scale allowed scientific observations of reactions that varied with temperature. The difference between the freezing and boiling temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit and centigrade (Celsius) are a matter of scale. With Fahrenheit, the degrees number 180 intervals between water freezing and boiling. With centigrade the freezing and boiling points were first defined as 0° and 100°C and the degree intervals made exactly 1/100 of the difference.

Answer 3

Don't think of it as freezing. Think of it as becoming solid -- that is, changing from liquid into solid form.

Many things change from liquid to solid above 32F.

Think of molten steel -- it's not a liquid at room temperature, let alone at 32F! It solidifies at a much higher temperature.

Answer 4

During cool clear nights all objects radiate heat energy back into space, lowering their temperature. Because air has a very low density, .075 lb per cubic foot, it gives up very little heat to space. Even though the air temperature may be well above freezing, objects that are looking into space, roofs, windshields, lawns, and patio furniture are below the freezing point, 32 degrees, and will cause moisture in the to freeze on their surface through deposition (phase transition). Deposition is a process in which gas transforms into solid (also known as desublimation). With little observation you will see that on a warm frosty morning, only surfaces facing up, or toward outer space, have frost on them.

R.D. Anderson

Answer 5

In thermodynamics, there's 3 basic ways of heat energy moving from one thing to another: physical contact (things that touch each other, including air), convection (when things can mix, like a pot of soup on the stove, or our atmosphere), and radiation (objects send off infrared heat rays). On a cold 36 degree morning with no wind, no clouds, radiant heat rays will leave objects cold, literally. In other words, normally the air mixes up the heat energy, keeping everything the same temperature. But sometimes, the radiant heat loss is too fast, and the air can't keep the temperature of the objects from dropping below freezing. If the wind starts blowing, then the 36-degree air can help bring the temperature of everything to above freezing.

I live near Napa, California, where vineyard workers put huge fans on poles to mix up the temperature, to keep the grape vines from freezing. This is convection heat transfer, mentioned above.

Radiant heat travels like visible light, so it's blocked from traveling up to space by clouds. So, a clear night with no wind will allow the highest amount of radiant cooling, enough so that the temperature of solid objects can drop below the temperature of the air.

Answer 6

At sea level, water does NOT freeze above 32 degrees. You've been misinformed.

Answer 7

Water does not freeze at 32 degrees Celsius, on the Celsius scale the freezing point of water is zero degrees Celsius. 32 is the freezing point of water measured in Fahrenheit.

Answer 8

Yes, water freeze at 32 0F (on the obsolete Fahrenheit scale).