Polymers to the rescue! Saving cells from damaging ice

Cell therapies hold great promise for revolutionizing the treatment of cancers and autoimmune diseases. But this multibillion-dollar industry requires long-term storage of cells at super-cold cryogenic conditions, while ensuring ...

We now know how insects and bacteria control ice

Contrary to what you may have been taught, water doesn't always freeze to ice at 32 degrees F (zero degrees C). Knowing, or controlling, at what temperature water will freeze (starting with a process called nucleation) is ...

How antifreeze proteins make ice crystals grow

Bacteria, plants, insects and fish use antifreeze proteins to protect themselves from the cold. The proteins block the growth of ice crystals. In a new study, a German-Israeli research team has confirmed that these proteins ...

Study of Arctic fishes reveals the birth of a gene—from 'junk'

Though separated by a world of ocean, and unrelated to each other, two fish groups—one in the Arctic, the other in the Antarctic—share a surprising survival strategy: They both have evolved the ability to produce the ...

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Antifreeze

Antifreeze is a freeze preventive used in internal combustion engines and other heat transfer applications, such as HVAC chillers and solar water heaters.

The purpose of antifreeze is to prevent a rigid enclosure from undergoing catastrophic deformation due to expansion when water turns to ice. Antifreezes are chemical compounds added to water to reduce the freezing point of the mixture below the lowest temperature that the system is likely to encounter. Either the additive or the mixture may be referred to as antifreeze.

An antifreeze mixture achieves freezing point depression for a cold environment and also achieves boiling point elevation to enable higher liquid temperatures. This is described as the action of a colligative agent, which can properly be referred to as both antifreeze and "anti-boil" when used for both properties. Careful selection of an antifreeze can enable a wide temperature range in which the mixture remains in the liquid phase, which is critical to efficient heat transfer and the proper functioning of heat exchangers.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA