Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Probing the Structure and Dynamics of Interfacial Water with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy
Published on: May 27, 2018
Vitrification and glass transition of water: insights from spin probe ESR
Shrivalli N Bhat1, Ajay Sharma, S V Bhat
1Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012, India.
Abstract:
Three long-standing problems related to the physics of water, viz., the possibility of vitrifying bulk water by rapid quenching, its glass transition, and the supposed impossibility of obtaining supercooled water between 150 and 233 K, the so-called "no man's land" of its phase diagram, are studied using the highly sensitive technique of spin probe ESR. Our results suggest that water can indeed be vitrified by rapid quenching; it undergoes a glass transition at approximately 135 K, and the relaxation behavior studied using this method between 165 K and 233 K closely follows the predictions of the Adam-Gibbs model.
Related Concept Videos
Phase Transitions: Melting and Freezing
NMR Spectroscopy: Spin–Spin Coupling
UV–Vis Spectroscopy: Molecular Electronic Transitions
Phase Transitions: Vaporization and Condensation
IR Spectroscopy: Hooke's Law Approximation of Molecular Vibration
According to Hooke's law, the vibrational frequency is directly proportional to the...
States of Water
Water freezes when the intermolecular forces are greater than the kinetic energy. Unlike most other substances, water is less dense in its solid state than in its liquid state. This is because each water molecule can form...

