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  4. QotW - 19.10.20 - Why does wiping my car windscreen turn water to ice?
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QotW - 19.10.20 - Why does wiping my car windscreen turn water to ice?

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Offline katieHaylor (OP)

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QotW - 19.10.20 - Why does wiping my car windscreen turn water to ice?
« on: 21/10/2019 17:13:43 »
Mike asks:

When the outside temperature is hovering around the freezing mark, the condensation or dew on my automobile windshield is in a liquid state. But if I wipe the windshield, the liquid water changes to ice. Why is that?

Can you help Mike with this one?
« Last Edit: 28/11/2019 14:41:17 by chris »
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Re: QotW - 19.10.20 - Why does wiping my car windscreen turn water to ice?
« Reply #1 on: 21/10/2019 17:26:47 »
The surface can absorb the latent heat of the liquid, when you spread the beads out.
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Re: QotW - 19.10.20 - Why does wiping my car windscreen turn water to ice?
« Reply #2 on: 21/10/2019 17:28:49 »
If undisturbed, supercooled liquid water can form all sorts of metastable short-range polymers that do not crystallise at 0 deg C. It doesn't take much to precipitate crystallisation and the spread can be very rapid, producing feather patterns on a previously-wiped surface in a matter of seconds from a small starting point.
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Tags: water  / states of matter  / condensation 
 

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