Supercooling a liquid is a really neat way of keeping the liquid a liquid below the freezing temperature. Normally, when you decrease the temperature of water below 32^oF, it turns into ice. But if you do it gently and slowly enough, it will stay a liquid, albeit a really cold one!

In nature, you’ll find supercooled water drops in freezing rain and also inside cumulus clouds. Pilots that fly through these clouds need to pay careful attention, as ice can instantly form on the instrument ports causing the instruments to fail. More dangerous is when it forms on the wings, changing the shape of the wing and causing the wing to stop producing lift. Most planes have de-icing capabilities, but the pilot still needs to turn it on.

We’re going to supercool water, and then disturb it to watch the crystals grow right before our eyes! While we’re only going to supercool it a couple of degrees, scientists can actually supercool water to below -43^oF!

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