Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 3, 2026

Cryopreservation of Preimplantation Embryos of Cattle, Sheep, and Goats
Published on: August 5, 2011
Equations for obtaining melting points for the ternary system ethylene glycol/sodium chloride/water and their
E J Woods1, M A Zieger, D Y Gao
1Wells Center for Pediatric Research, Indiana University Medical Center, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, USA.
Abstract:
The present study describes the H(2)O-NaCl-ethylene glycol ternary system by using a differential scanning calorimeter to measure melting points (T(m)) of four different ratios (R) of ethylene glycol to NaCl and then devising equations to fit the experimental measurements. Ultimately an equation is derived which characterizes the liquidus surface above the eutectic for any R value in the system. This study focuses on ethylene glycol in part because of recent evidence indicating it may be less toxic to pancreatic islets than Me(2)SO, which is currently used routinely for islet cryopreservation. The resulting physical data and previously determined information regarding the osmotic characteristics of canine pancreatic islets are combined in a mathematical model to describe the volumetric response to equilibrium-rate freezing in varying initial concentrations of ethylene glycol.
Related Concept Videos
Phase Transitions: Melting and Freezing
Freezing Point Depression and Boiling Point Elevation
The boiling point of a liquid is the temperature at which its vapor pressure is equal to ambient atmospheric pressure. Since the vapor pressure of a solution is lowered due to the presence of nonvolatile solutes, it stands to reason that the solution’s boiling point will subsequently be increased. Vapor pressure increases with temperature, and so a solution will require a higher temperature than will pure solvent to achieve any given vapor pressure, including one...
Cryo-electron Microscopy
Solid–Solid Solutions
Freezing Point Depression and Boiling Point Elevation
Phase Diagrams of Ternary Systems

