glycerol

[electrictruffle]

Glycerol has a melting point of about 17C

Comments

[iridium]

can you mix in some small quantity of a nucleating agent? (does glycerol crystalize? my matsci is rusty here. what's the freezing process?)

[electrictruffle]

So apparently glycerol _will_ crystallize, but if you search the web to find out how you bump into all this crazy religious stuff. Apparently there is a story of glycerol crystals seeding crystallization in _sealed_ jars in the same room.

http://www.adam.com.au/bstett/PaOddballEarth.htm

http://www.skepticfiles.org/skeptic/skep.htm (down toward the middle)

http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/kings/glycerinum.html probably has the best info so far

I tried diatomaceous earth as a nucleating agent; doesn't seem to work. From the above I am simply going to try waiting a while; maybe given enough time at reduced temperature I can get a few glycerol seeds.

-ETR

[iridium]

*laugh* the old-style chemist's language in that last link is kinda fun.

could you produce seed crystals by supercooling with dry ice or LN2?

Random Chemistry Stranger

[thunderslug]

Hey.

Friend of Ruthling's.

You may want to try something as simple as sugar crystals when it's supercooled...they make decent nucleating agents.

The other thing is to use a well-scratched container--no polymers. The scratches give high-energy states for nucleation/growth.

Or-or...freeze some glycerine at ~0C in your freezer (it should give up at some point, especially if seeded with sugar and/or flawed containment), crush that, and drop it in the supercooled glycerine.

That crap gave me the hardest time when I was working on a non-aqueous electropolish for Zirconium.

Re: Random Chemistry Stranger

[electrictruffle]

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestions. I did try using diatomaceous earth to provide nucleation centers, but did not think to try sugar.

I did try low temperatures; the glycerol did not give up and freeze, and probably remains a glass.

I found an alternative material that did the job, however. More later.

-Jon

Re: Random Chemistry Stranger

[thunderslug]

Cool (ha!) I'm interested to hear what it is...I'm still not sure about the use of Talisker as a cooking ingredient...but I'm always interested in chemistry (3 minors)

Re: Random Chemistry Stranger

[electrictruffle]

Hi,

I've friended you. See my post titled 'DOME', about halfway down.