Water in its most familiar form, as you are probably well aware, freezes at a cool 0°C (32°F). But you may have wondered, perhaps while working on your car or considering freezing a leftover curry, what happens when you try to freeze oil? The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

First up, what is actually happening when water freezes ? Freezing is what we call it when a liquid loses heat energy to the surrounding environment, and changes into a solid state. In water, lowering the liquid beyond its freezing point (pressure will do it too, and there are other forms of water ice , but let's not complicate things for now) results in a very regular crystal pattern.

"Whether in plants and animals or rocks, foams and ice crystals,

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