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Triple Point: Water can exist in three states at the same time.Did you Know ?
Introduction:
Water is an amazing substance. We experience it as a solid, like ice, as a gas, like water vapor, and of course in liquid form.
It's called the Triple Point of Water. Put simply, it's the point at which water, subject to the right temperature and pressure, can exist as a solid, liquid and gas at once. In more technical terms, water at this point is referred to as existing in thermodynamic equilibrium. With water, this point exists at just above freezing (0.1 C) and at a pressure of 0.006 atmospheres.
One of the key actions in freeze drying is triple point. People are a bit confused with how this happens and why, and there is also a misconception that this is sublimation. The fact is that triple point is a stage you must achieve for the sublimation phase to start. Sublimation is the transition of a substance directly from the solid to the gas phase without passing through the intermediate liquid phase.
Explaination:
In physics and chemistry, the triple point of a substance is the temperature and pressure at which three phases (gas, liquid, and solid) of that substance may coexist in thermodynamic equilibrium.
In one’s everyday life they experience three phases of materials: solids, liquids, and gases. Water provides some of the most familiar examples of phase transitions. One often observes the freezing or melting of ice, the boiling of water, and the condensation of steam. These are often attributed to changes in temperature, however pressure also plays an important role.
Phases are only stable in certain ranges of pressure and temperature. Transition phases normally occur under conditions of phase equilibrium between two phases, which are indicated by the curves on the phase diagram above. For instance, near the bottom of the phase diagram there is a curve indicating the phase transition between a solid and a gas. At this transition, gas sublimates from the material’s solid state, skipping the liquid transition entirely, as seen in dry ice at normal atmospheric pressure.
Water evaporates very fast during evacuation, which can be harmful for the vacuum pump. To keep the pump safe, a water vapor trap is installed between the jar and the pump (figure 1). This trap is a three-neck flask filled with blue Drierite crystals (Anhydrous Calcium Sulfate). When the Drierite crystals change color to pink, they do not absorb water any more and must be replaced.
Triple point of water:
Scientific explanation: The single combination of pressure and temperature at which pure water, pure ice, and pure water vapour can coexist in a stable equilibrium occurs at exactly 273.16 kelvins (0.01 °C) and a pressure of 611.73 pascals (ca. 6.1173 millibars, 0.0060373057 atm).
Simply put, the triple point of water is the only temperature at which water can exist in all three states of matter; solid (ice), liquid (water), and gas (water vapour). This temperature is 0.01°C.
At that point, it is possible to change all of the substance to ice, water, or vapour by making infinitesimally small changes in pressure and temperature.
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Prateek Parashar
