Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
❄️ Below freezing, not solid 😎 Very impressive ❄️ To chill below freezing
to supercool

to supercool

7.5
To cool a liquid below its normal freezing point so it stays liquid
  • verb
  • /ˈsuːpərˌkuːl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : sobreenfriar
  • In the lab, scientists can supercool liquids to temperatures far below their freezing points without them solidifying.

Examples

  • They learned how to supercool the mixture effectively, allowing for a unique experiment in their chemistry class.

  • They supercool.

    Academic text (2007)

  • Supercooling the universe.

    Academic text (2002)

  • The challenge, then, is to supercool the liquid from TM to TG so fast that there's no chance for a crystalline phase to nucleate and grow.

    Academic text (2012)

  • The collective rearrangements needed to fulfill both requirements proceed slowly enough that even moderate cooling rates suffice to supercool a liquid to TG before it crystallizes.

    Academic text (2012)

  • In Alaska, yellowjacket queens of the species Vespula vulgaris survive the cold, hanging by their mandibles for nine months in a dry, snow-free cavity by allowing the fluids in their bodies to supercool.

    Academic text (2007)

  • To create ice crystals at the right size, you need to supercool the water just before it freezes.

How Cold

to supercool
  • Specialized
7.5
to freeze
770 1.0
to chill
84 1.0
to cool
256 1.0

Surface Forms

supercool infinitive
supercooled past
supercooled past participle
supercooling present participle
supercools third person singular

Morphology

supercool = cool (semi-transparent) = super + cool

The verb is transparently formed by prefixing 'super-' to the verb 'cool', but the meaning as a technical process in physics (cool below freezing without solidifying) is specialized.

Etymology

Supercool comes from the start super- 'extra' and cool 'to make cold'. So to supercool a liquid is to make it colder than its usual freeze point without it turning into a solid.