Does electricity freeze?

Question

john=mc in reference to your answer
"please use common sense instead of wasting your points it's simple science so as everyone has stated no, electricity does not freeze".

I just want to know if it can and if it does at what temperature. Oh and it's nice to see that you can answer a question and explain your theory based on what other people have said.

Does it have a freezing point, I should have said.

Answer 1

No

For a material to freeze, it must be capable of forming a rigid structure. Electrons, which make up electricity, are too free-spirited and small, and cannot bond to each other to make up this free structure. They are also negatively charged, so tend to repel each other as much as possible.

Answer 2

"Freezing" is a term used in relation to substances moving from a liquid state to a solid state. Electricity is not a substance it is a phenomena therefore it does not freeze.

If the underlying question is at what temperature would electricity stop flowing the answer depends on the substance being used to conduct the electricity. Paradoxically for some metals and "superconductors" the colder it gets the less resistance the substance puts up and the more electricity (current) can flow.

Have a look at http://www.absolutezerocampaign.org/get_involved/resources/topic_superconductivity.htm if you want to learn more.

Answer 3

Electricity is a form of energy, so it could not possibly freeze. Only matter can freeze. If you were to put electrical equipment in a very cold environment (I know that's vague, but I'm not talking freezing, I'm talking like -100C and so on), it might stop working, but that would be equipment failure, not the actual electric current.

For example, if the temperature was absolute zero (which, if my memory serves me, is about -273.15C), and a Tesla coil was active in that, the electricity generated would not freeze, rather the energy would warm the temperature and the ice just might even melt (or even boil). But I wouldn't want to be there, because when ice melts and boils rapidly, it tends to explode violently.

Just remember this one fact. Cold is not an energy of its own, it is a LACK of energy. Therefore when you introduce energy, it doesn't become less cold, it becomes more warm

Answer 4

NO. Event at absolute zero you freeze only the movement of electrons. The point of freezing electricity does not happen. Also Psymon says others do not know physics. May be psymon does not know electricity.

PS Great Question. Never gave a thought to it.

It is like freezing a feeling. lol

Answer 5

Yes it does - sort of.

All material things are effected by temperature, the colder things get the less movement happens sub-atomicaly, so yes there is a point where it gets so cold that electrons stop moving.

Also

Everything stops under a massive gravity well (blackholes etc) a bolt of lightning (for example) would be super imposed or 'frozen' there forever.

Answer 6

There is a temperature known as Absolute Zero, or zero degrees on the Kelvin scale (-273º Centigrade) at which all matter becomes completely inert and incapable of passing electrons from one molecule to another (which is effectively what happens in an electrical current) so you could actually say from a physics point of view, that at Absolute Zero, electricity 'freezes'. The people who answered 'no' obviously don't know enough about physics to be aware of this.
Good question, have a star!
Psymon.

Answer 7

Electricity is a form of plasma... Not directly a state of matter with particles. This means with no particles, the material cannot freeze, as the definition of a matierial to 'freeze' is when particles condenes together.

In a simle answer: NO!

Good question though. ^-^

Answer 8

No

For a material to freeze, it must be capable of forming a rigid structure. Electrons, which make up electricity, are too free-spirited and small, and cannot bond to each other to make up this free structure. They are also negatively charged, so tend to repel each other as much as possible.!!!! i agree with this guy but he has allready explained so i dont need to sorry if it seens lazy

Answer 9

Not usually.

If your question relates to the effect of electricity on people, then definitely not. In fact, the description normally applied to electrical damage is 'burns'. So, people struck by lightning receive electrical burns, for example.

However, there is a strange property of some materials that causes a cooling effect when an electrical voltage is applied. This is called thermoelectric cooling. So in some circumstances, electricity can freeze!

Answer 10

To be honest, I would say no because you have super-conductor materials that conduct electricity at exponential levels when their temperatures are lowered to incredibly low levels. All it does it increase the electrical efficiency. There's also the fact that electrivity moves too fast and changes the state of atoms, molecules etc... for it to freeze (if it were possible). Hope that answers your question.

Answer 11

No, electricity flows (because of electrons moving from a higher potential to a lower potential) and that might have given you the idea that the analogy with a liquid is complete. No, electricity flows but does not freeze. It is not a liquid.