Theory and experiments on the ice-water front propagation in droplets freezing on a subzero surface

An approximate theory is presented that describes the propagation of the ice-water front that develops in droplets of water that are deposited on a planar surface at a temperature below the melting point of ice. This theory is compared with experimental observation of the time evolution of this front. These experiments were performed by freezing water droplets directly on a block of dry ice, and to examine the effects of the thermal conductivity of a substrate during the freezing process. Such droplets were also deposited on a glass plate and on a copper plate placed on dry ice. The temperature at the base of these droplets, and the dependence of the freezing time on their size were also obtained experimentally, and compared with our analytic theory. These experiment can be readily performed by physics undergraduate students, and reveal that the usual assumption of constant temperature at the base of the droplets cannot be implemented in practice.