Freezing-point depression describes the process in which adding a solute to a solvent (i.e. salt in water, alcohol in water), or the mixing of two solids (such as impurities in a finely powdered drug) (in such cases, the added compound is the solute, and the original solid can be thought of as the solvent) produces a decrease in the freezing point of the solvent. The resulting solution or solid-solid mixture has a lower freezing point than the pure solvent or solid did. This phenomenon is what causes sea water, (a mixture of salt (and other things) in water) to remain liquid at temperatures below 0 °C (32 °F), the freezing point of pure water.
Read more about Freezing-point Depression: Uses, Freezing-point Depression of A Solvent and A Solute, Calculation
Famous quotes containing the word depression:
“Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the grand-daughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me. Slavery is sixty years in the past. The operation was successful and the patient is doing well, thank you. The terrible struggle that made me an American out of a potential slave said “On the line!” The Reconstruction said “Go!” I am off to a flying start and I must not halt in the stretch to look behind and weep.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)