# Any household liquids that freeze above 32 degrees? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 28, 2009, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-household-liquids-that-freeze-above-32-degrees/519281 "2009-11-28T22:41:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2009, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-household-liquids-that-freeze-above-32-degrees/519281/21 "2009-11-29T03:57:50Z")
You can order it here, $20 for 16 oz. [http://secure.sciencecompany.com/Acetic-Acid-Glacial-16oz-P16220C672.aspx](http://secure.sciencecompany.com/Acetic-Acid-Glacial-16oz-P16220C672.aspx) ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2009, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-household-liquids-that-freeze-above-32-degrees/519281/22 "2009-11-29T04:37:03Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > You can order it here, $20 for 16 oz. > > [http://secure.sciencecompany.com/Acetic-Acid-Glacial-16oz-P16220C672.aspx](http://secure.sciencecompany.com/Acetic-Acid-Glacial-16oz-P16220C672.aspx) wow… this will go great with my Ebay opium poppies ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2009, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-household-liquids-that-freeze-above-32-degrees/519281/23 "2009-11-29T05:51:53Z")
and by “go great,” I mean have complementing flavor because i’m combining two foods get it? ok :o ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2009, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-household-liquids-that-freeze-above-32-degrees/519281/24 "2009-11-29T06:14:24Z")
Gallium? But I don’t think many other Dopers have a small jar of Gallium around. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2009, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-household-liquids-that-freeze-above-32-degrees/519281/25 "2009-11-29T07:27:14Z")
Honey (depends on the variety). ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2009, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-household-liquids-that-freeze-above-32-degrees/519281/26 "2009-11-29T08:09:49Z")
The real reason it’s hard to find glacial acetic acid in stores is actually due to how retailing has changed over the years. Over time, Wal-Mart et al have really changed how retail operations work. Everything is loosely modeled on manufacturing and keeping stock supplies just ahead of consumer demand (think “on demand” manufacturing). To maintain profitability, stock has to turn over very rapidly. As a result, there’s no room for stocking such slow moving product. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2009, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-household-liquids-that-freeze-above-32-degrees/519281/27 "2009-11-29T08:27:02Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Gallium? But I don’t think many other Dopers have a small jar of Gallium around. Well, in a way they might. If you have one of those mercury free thermometers that has a silvery liquid inside it, that’s “galinstan”, an alloy of gallium, indium and tin. However, that alloy freezes at about -2 F. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2009, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-household-liquids-that-freeze-above-32-degrees/519281/28 "2009-11-29T19:23:25Z")
The boyfriend runs a photography store - they’ve got plenty of it. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-household-liquids-that-freeze-above-32-degrees/519281/29 "2009-11-29T20:16:06Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > (snip)As a result, there’s no room for stocking such slow moving product. It’s really only slow moving at lower temperatures. Heat it up to 40 degrees Celsius and it flows pretty much like water. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-household-liquids-that-freeze-above-32-degrees/519281/30 "2009-11-30T00:10:38Z")
No-one has posted the greatest of all melty products - chocolate. By the time the temperature approaches 100 F (as it did here last week - I think we’re in for a long, hot summer Down Under) chocolate is probably soft enough to be considered a liquid. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-household-liquids-that-freeze-above-32-degrees/519281/31 "2009-11-30T00:52:04Z")
One problem with chocolate (and also many oils) is that they don’t really have a single well-defined melting point. With water, if it’s less than 0 Celsius, it’s completely, unambiguously a solid, and if it’s more, it’s completely, unambiguously a liquid, but with chocolate, there’s a broad range where it goes from “solid” to “soft and messy solid” to “squishy” to “sludgy”, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-household-liquids-that-freeze-above-32-degrees/519281/32 "2009-11-30T01:07:07Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Got coconut oil? It liquefies at approximately skin temperature. I used to have a big jar of that. We used it as a summer detector. When the oil was solid, it was not summer. When the oil turned liquid, it was summertime. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-household-liquids-that-freeze-above-32-degrees/519281/33 "2009-11-30T01:07:21Z")
> [@Lord\_Mondegreen](#): > > No-one has posted the greatest of all melty products - chocolate. Included in the mixtures/compounds of fats I mentioned in post #9. The propensity of chocolate to melt is derived largely from the fats it contains. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-household-liquids-that-freeze-above-32-degrees/519281/34 "2009-11-30T01:13:57Z")
> [@snailboy](#): > > Your description sounds about the same as hydrochloric acid, but you can buy fuming HCl at hardware stores and places that sell swimming pool supplies. Just having the wind blow the fumes toward you from a few feet away is quite unpleasant. When I worked in a chemical plant, my machine shop was in a shared warehouse between a sodium hypochlorite manufacturing area and an ammonia tank filling area. :rolleyes: I can get into a gas mask in 10 seconds, I can get into a self contained breathing apparatus in 30. There is a reason I spent 7 years with hair an inch long … rubber pulling out hair sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-household-liquids-that-freeze-above-32-degrees/519281/35 "2009-11-30T08:43:52Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Mostly waxes and fats (and compounds and mixtures including them) then - in terms of household items. Not really. The typical house will have a dozen thermoplastics that meet your criteria, one sugar and maybe two or three waxes or fats. So it’s mostly artificial polymers. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-household-liquids-that-freeze-above-32-degrees/519281/36 "2009-11-30T15:56:10Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Olive oil. > > In the fridge it’s sludge. On the shelf it’s liquid Good one. Another cooking oil that will get nearly solid in the fridge is sesame oil - and it’s recommended that you refrigerate it because it can go rancid relatively quickly at room temp. On the topic of coconut oil, it’s solid at room temp, but you can get a version called fractionated coconut oil that IIRC is liquid at room temp - not entirely sure what happens if you put it in the fridge, but I assume it may well solidify like other oils. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-household-liquids-that-freeze-above-32-degrees/519281/37 "2009-11-30T17:13:38Z")
Jello also qualifies, but you will lose water as you heat it so it wont return to it’s original phase. Thermoplastics have similar issues since the plasticizers can phase separate. I also can’t think of a household thermoplastic that one could reliably melt without burning. I’ve gotten them to loosen beyond the glass transition, but not really melt to a liquid. Butter also will not return to it’s original form. I think the best answers so far are shortening and wax, but a more satisfying answer would be one that formed a crystalline solid with a sharp melting point. Honey might count, but it takes a long time to crystallize. Anybody know anything about dried honey? Fructose melts at 103˚C, but I doubt many people have pure fructose lying around the kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-household-liquids-that-freeze-above-32-degrees/519281/38 "2009-11-30T17:23:17Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > JI doubt many people have pure fructose lying around the kitchen. Actually, you can buy it at many natural food coops. It’s a little more hygroscopic than regular sucrose, so it gets lumpy. It makes nice crystals though, unlike honey which is a nearly equal mix of fructose and glucose, with other junk mixed in. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-household-liquids-that-freeze-above-32-degrees/519281/39 "2009-11-30T22:13:54Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Not really. The typical house will have a dozen thermoplastics that meet your criteria, one sugar and maybe two or three waxes or fats. > > So it’s mostly artificial polymers. That are liquid in the range specified by the OP in post #8? What are they? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-household-liquids-that-freeze-above-32-degrees/519281/40 "2009-11-30T23:27:38Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > One problem with chocolate (and also many oils) is that they don’t really have a single well-defined melting point. With water, if it’s less than 0 Celsius, it’s completely, unambiguously a solid, and if it’s more, it’s completely, unambiguously a liquid, but with chocolate, there’s a broad range where it goes from “solid” to “soft and messy solid” to “squishy” to “sludgy”, and so on. Yes, that’s a good point, and one I hadn’t considered. No actual melting _point_, more a sort of melting _range_. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-household-liquids-that-freeze-above-32-degrees/519281.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-household-liquids-that-freeze-above-32-degrees/519281.md?page=3)