If I filled a box TO THE BRIM with 75% water and 25% ice, sealed the box shut in a way that it was as if it was never openable, and then waited for the ice to melt, what would happen? Would it manage to destroy the box? Would I accidentally start a black hole that would suck up the Earth and kill us all?
In: Physics
The thing to know is that the state of matter (liquid, gas, solid) is NOT only determined by temperature. We like to say things like water freezes at 0C and boils at 100C but that is a simplified statement because it is only true at normal atmospheric pressure.
So in any kind of experiment where pressure (ie something contained in a fixed volume container) and temperature varies, the outcome will be determined by what is called a phase diagram.
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