Can a liquid boil and freeze at the same time?
Its called triple point,and its not science fiction. When temperature and pressure of cyclo-hexane is changed to precise values, all three states of matter - solid, liquid and gas co-exist. These specific conditions ensure that the substance in its gaseous form takes up large amount of energy from the liquid, causing it to freeze.
The following video is conducted near triple point of cyclohexane, but the liquids aren't in perfect equilibrium.
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It is pretty difficult to control at the triple point as once the substance boil off, the vapor pressure suddenly change aside from the vaporization energy. As a result the equilibrium is difficult to control consistently; but I guess this is one of the best demonstrations I had seen in the internet :DD
@mcw Thank you. The exact equilibrium is difficult to maintain, even at the starting point of this experiment. It uses rough values, which is good enough for a physical demonstration.