Apple-like Shape of Freezing Paraffin Wax Droplets and Its Origin.

ABSTRACT: Paraffin wax stores energy in the form of latent heat at a nearly constant temperature during melting and releases this energy during solidification. This effect is used in industrial energy storage. At the same time, the possible deformation of even small volumes of material as a result of phase change is insufficiently studied. In this paper, the physical nature of such deformation, probably for the first time, is studied on the example of a droplet of paraffin wax. An unusual change in the shape of a melted droplet of paraffin wax placed on a relatively cold glass plate was observed in the laboratory experiments. As the droplet solidifies, its upper surface becomes nearly flat, and a dimple is formed in the center of this surface, making the droplet look like a fruit (pumpkins are more

SUBMITTER: Roy PK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10456291 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature