Thermodynamic analysis of the mechanism of deep supercooling of tissue water in winter-hardy plants

摘要

The temperature at which ice grows through narrow, hydrophilic capillary is known to be depressed (9, 26). Further, the nucleation temperature near a hydrophilic surface varies with the size, geometry and the properties of a particle (10, 11, 12, 13). In this paper we show how these two effects are additive for the water that freezes on the wall of a capillary without the presence of pre-existing ice. The combined effect is a substantial lowering of nucleation temperature that could, if this analysis is correct, have important cryobiological consequences. [References: 35]