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About self freezing beer?
Would someone explain to me the phenomenon of a bottle of beer that has been cooled to near freezing, but is still liquid until it has been opened, then promptly freezes.
1 Answer
- skipperLv 51 decade agoFavorite Answer
This is a very good question. Not many people would think to ask it. The answer lies with the principle of physics. If you are familiar with the phase diagram for water, the line between liquid and solid is not perfectly horizontal. What this means is that water under pressure does not freeze at 0 (C). It does freeze below zero. So while the beer is cooled to 0 or slightly below with the cap on it remains a liquid, but when the cap is removed the pressure is now atmospheric and the liquid freezes immediately.
So other answers may try to invoke the freezing point depression argument but do not be fooled. True, solids in beer depress the freezing point but that is not what's happening here.