I put a bottle of Bambay Sapphire in the freezer, and after it got as cold as it was going to get it came out more syrupy than at room temperature. This seems like an in between state of matter, but that’s probably not the case. The molecules are slowing down, but just not stopped right? Is there a word for this? Temperauture related viscocity?
Side note: what besides “dry ice” sublimates?
Cold stuff gets slower. It’s as simple as that. You can replicate something similar to this: Get a balloon, inflate it, then put it in the freezer. It’ll shrink as it gets colder. When you take it out, it’ll almost instantly begin expanding again.
There’s no “in-between” state about it. The three (ignoring plasma) states of matter are solid, where matter has a definite shape and volume, liquid, where it has no definite shape but definite volume, and gas, that has neither definite shape or volume.
Other ways to witness this phenomena: Most bridges built these days have little “separations” made of metal. These are to allow the bridge room to expand in hot temperatures, and contract in low temperature, without putting undo stress on the structure over time.
As for your dry ice question, I don’t know off the top of my head, and I’m about to leave work, so I don’t have time to look it up.
Oh, and by the way… excellent choice of gin.
re dry ice: are you asking because of the recent staff report http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mdryice.html ?
There’ve been a few related threads in Comments on Staff Reports. Check there for more info.
Lots of things sublime if the conditions are right. Have you noticed that ice cubes in trays in your freezer seem to shrink when they haven’t been used for a while? The ice has sublimed.
To add to the original question: why do some liquids become less viscous at cool temperatures (like gin) while others do not (like water)?
Any solid with its boiling point above room temperature will sublimate like dry ice does.
WTF? 
Iron to pick an element has a boiling point above room temp (at least it did the last time I looked) and it for sure exists as a liquid.
But the gin became more viscous - it became thicker & syrupy & harder to pour.
BTW, what are you defining as cool temperatures here? If you mean below zero, the only reason water isn’t a viscous liquid at that point is because it’s turned into a solid (ignoring supercooling, that is ;)). Pure ethanol doesn’t freeze till -117°C, so how low are we talking about :D?
dnooman, had your gin also turned whiteish at all instead of clear? Not just gone gluey but actually changed colour somewhat? If so, you have have miniature ice crystals forming in the liquid (& you probably do anyway, even if it didn’t go whiteish). They can’t grow very large, if the alcohol is pure enough, due to the lack of impurities to freeze around, but that’s what I was always told caused the glueiness of freezer vodka (I know you mentioned gin, but it’s generally vodka that I know of being stored in the freezer). This vodka site mentions making it as pure as possible to avoid ice crystals forming when stored in the freezer - http://www.ahardyusa.com/vodka.html
Another thing that is done is to put a chip of ice into the vodka & put it in the freezer - the water then freezes around the ice chip & the alcohol remains unfrozen. I’m not sure what the maximum alcohol content is before this isn’t very productive in a regular domestic freezer, but it’s a form of distillation - freeze distillation.
Rick - maybe Speaker meant boiling point below room temperature?
Forget room temperature. Anything that has a boiling point below its melting point at atmospheric pressure will sublimate.
Like these things:
AlCl[sub]3[/sub], AlF[sub]3[/sub], AlN,
Nh[sub]4[/sub]Br, NH[sub]4[/sub]Cl
As
BeBr[sub]2[/sub], BeF[sub]2[/sub]
BN
CdS
FCN, ICN, CO[sub]2[/sub]
CrCl[sub]3[/sub]
GaF[sub]3[/sub], GaN, Ga[sub]2[/sub]O
GeO, GeS
InCl[sub]3[/sub]
IF[sub]7[/sub]
Li[sub]2[/sub]O
Hg[sub]2[/sub]Br[sub]2[/sub], Hg[sub]2[/sub]Cl[sub]2[/sub], HgS
NiCl[sub]2[/sub]
N[sub]2[/sub]O[sub]5[/sub]
P, PCl[sub]5[/sub], PH[sub]4[/sub]Br, P[sub]2[/sub]O[sub]5[/sub]
SeCl[sub]4[/sub], SeF[sub]6[/sub], SeO[sub]2[/sub]
SiC, SiF[sub]4[/sub], Si[sub]3[/sub]N[sub]4[/sub], SiS[sub]2[/sub]
Na[sub]2[/sub]O
SF[sub]6[/sub]
TeF[sub]6[/sub], TeO[sub]2[/sub]
TiCl[sub]3[/sub]
UF[sub]6[/sub]
VCl[sub]2[/sub]
ZnS
ZrCl[sub]4[/sub]
Happy?
Actually that list would be better with the temperatures ([sup]o[/sup]C):
AlCl[sub]3[/sub] 180, AlF[sub]3[/sub] 1257, AlN 1870,
Nh[sub]4[/sub]Br 452, NH[sub]4[/sub]Cl 340
As 613
BeBr[sub]2[/sub] 474, BeF[sub]2[/sub] 800
BN 3000
CdS 980
FCN -72, ICN 45, CO[sub]2[/sub] -78
CrCl[sub]3[/sub] 83
GaF[sub]3[/sub] 950, GaN 800, Ga[sub]2[/sub]O 500
GeO 710, GeS 430
InCl[sub]3[/sub] 300
IF[sub]7[/sub] 5
Li[sub]2[/sub]O 1000
Hg[sub]2[/sub]Br[sub]2[/sub] 345, Hg[sub]2[/sub]Cl[sub]2[/sub] 383, HgS 580
NiCl[sub]2[/sub] 987
N[sub]2[/sub]O[sub]5[/sub] 32
P 417, PCl[sub]5[/sub] 164, PH[sub]4[/sub]Br 30, P[sub]2[/sub]O[sub]5[/sub] 300
SeCl[sub]4[/sub] 196, SeF[sub]6[/sub] -47, SeO[sub]2[/sub] 317
SiC 2200, SiF[sub]4[/sub] -95, Si[sub]3[/sub]N[sub]4[/sub] ?, SiS[sub]2[/sub] 1090
Na[sub]2[/sub]O 1275
SF[sub]6[/sub] -63
TeF[sub]6[/sub] -39, TeO[sub]2[/sub] 450
TiCl[sub]3[/sub] 430
UF[sub]6[/sub] 56
VCl[sub]2[/sub] 1000
ZnS 1185
ZrCl[sub]4[/sub] 331
Well, cold gin is the only thing that keeps us together…
Oh, KISS off, won’t you?
Even though I’ve already been proven wrong, I did mean to say “below.”