Can water boil and freeze at the same time? If yes, then why?

Do you ever thought that can water boil and freeze at the same time? 

Have you ever imagine that what will happen if we will try to do that?

Well if you ever thought that we can boil and freeze water at the same time then you were absolutely right.

Yes,we can boil and freeze water at the same time. you have to just fix the pressure and temperature.

At a temperature of 0.01 degrees Celsius and absolute pressure of 4.58 mm Hg , all the three phases of water exist simultaneously— you can see the vapour, water and ice all co-existing at a time. This is called “Triple Point of Water". This phenomenon is used during calibration of a temperature scale / thermometer.

Different fluids have different triple points, and the phenomenon is not limited to just water.

Detailed explanation

Since the boiling point and freezing point also depend on pressure, you can adjust the pressure to make the boiling point and freezing point the same. This happens at the triple point of water, 273.16 K.

The boiling point is where liquid and vapor exist in equilibrium, or where the vapor pressure of the liquid is equal to the ambient pressure.

The normal boiling point is the boiling point at 1 atm pressure; at 100 C (212 F) the vapor pressure of water equals 1 atm. If you lower the pressure the boiling point decreases, because the vapor pressure of water will reach the ambient pressure at a lower temperature.

The freezing point doesn’t vary as much with pressure as the boiling point does. Water, however, is unusual in that it expands on freezing. This means that you can melt ice at 32 F (0 C, the normal freezing point) by applying pressure to it. At higher pressure the freezing point will be lower, and if you lower the pressure the freezing point will increase.

At 1 atm the normal boiling point of water is 373.15 K, and the freezing point is 273.15 K. Lowering the pressure to the triple point pressure at 0.006 atm, the boiling point and freezing point are both 273.16 K. Obviously the boiling point is affected more by the pressure.



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