As a fun, end of the week treat, my partner Audrey and I decided it was our turn to make ice cream! We wrote a proposal and that night, we whisked together milk, sugar, and salt. Once the sugar was dissolved and no longer grainy, we stirred in vanilla with the heavy cream, covered the bowl and refrigerated it.
The next day when it was time to make ice cream, we assembled the ice cream maker. We had to pre-freeze the freezer bowl that goes in the middle of the machine and applies the coldness. We took the mixture out of the fridge and poured it in. After leave it to churn for 20 minutes, it was looking pretty thick and not moving much anymore (before it was slowly piling over itself) so we took it out of the ice cream maker and let it sit in the freezer for a little while longer just to confirm that it was the right consistency. We ate it with brownie bites and it was very yummy :)
What was going on when the liquid mixture became thick and cold? More specifically, what phases of matter were occurring? The phase change of freezing is occurring when the liquid becomes solid, or, somewhat more solid. When I heard that that this was described as freezing, I wondered why it didn't freeze into a hard solid, like water for example. After some research I knew that it's because the sugar in the ice cream sticks between water molecules while they're trying to freeze. This is why its so soft and fluffy.
What was going on when the liquid mixture became thick and cold? More specifically, what phases of matter were occurring? The phase change of freezing is occurring when the liquid becomes solid, or, somewhat more solid. When I heard that that this was described as freezing, I wondered why it didn't freeze into a hard solid, like water for example. After some research I knew that it's because the sugar in the ice cream sticks between water molecules while they're trying to freeze. This is why its so soft and fluffy.