Forum: ell.stackexchange.com
Tags: <word-request>
Title: Is there a word for a gel turning into liquid?
Question: We have a word called evaporation for liquid turning into vapour. Is there a word for something turning from gel to liquid?  The thing is that I have a plant "Aloe Vera" and it has a gel substance in it. But if you pluck it and let it rest for few days, the gel turns into liquid.  Is there a word for it?

Answers:
sents: text: The general technical term for a solid or gas becoming a liquid is " liquefaction " (the verb form of which is liquefy ) - but it's something that I'd say is probably mainly used in engineering/materials science contexts for this.
text: Since a gel is classed as a solid (technically, a solid with liquid dispersed through it), I'd say it's fine to refer to its liquefaction (certainly in any casual context) as " melting ",
text: same as you would any other solid.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/25308/Jez W
score: 21
sents: text: There are two answers suggesting melt.
text: This is not a bad choice, and in many circumstances it is the one I would use.
text: It would be widely understood and wouldn't raise many eyebrows.
text: That said, melt carries at least a little hint of a sense of temperature changes.
text: (I think butter melts because the colloidal fats actually do change from solid to liquid with temperature changes.)
text: @JezW mentioned the noun liquefaction.
text: I agree that in the noun form it is technical jargon rarely heard outside of science/engineering.
text: I believe the conjugated verb form, liquefy/liquefied, is used more widely.
text: (var spelling: liquify )
text: If the gel turns to a liquid completely in the absence of temperature changes, I would use liquefy.
text: If you squeeze a corn-starch and water mixture it will harden in your hand, but if you relax your grip it will liquefy again.
text: I left a jar of mayonnaise in the fridge for a year.
text: When I opened it, it had completely liquefied.
text: Do you think it is safe to eat?
text: If you don't use your hand sanitizer within a month or two, it might start to liquefy.
text: In the later two cases the implication is that despite stable temperatures, something else has caused the structure to break down -
text: the solids spread through the liquid are settling, or are simply falling apart.
text: Evidence for this word being used outside of a scientific context:
text: The song "Liquefy," by the band The Servant: youtube link to music video TLDR; I would consider liquefy/liquefaction to be the general term.
text: It could occur due to melting, decay, decomposition, sedimentation, deliquescence, etc.
text: In casual circumstances, people might use melt for any of these, but it has connotations of temperature change, and will sound strange if people know one of the other mechanisms to be at work.
text: Liquefy is widely understood, and always means turns into a liquid, whether by chemical, thermal or mechanical processes.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/11733/Adam
score: 9
sents: text: There are common 1 words for all the transitions between the common states of matter: Solid ->
text: Liquid =
text: MeltSolid -> Gas =
text: SublimateLiquid -> Gas =
text: Evaporate / BoilLiquid -> Solid =
text: Solidify / FreezeGas -> Solid =
text: Desublimate / Sublimate [2]Gas -
text: > Liquid =
text: Condense
text: The problem is that gel is a colloid .
text: That is, it has two parts, in two states, one spread throughout the other.
text: In this case, there is a solid spread throughout a liquid.
text: Since the same is true of butter, (solid fat spread through water), and butter melts
text: , I'd be happy to use the word melt for a gel too.
text: 1.
text: Ok, sublimate isn't exactly common, and this list isn't complete, just provides some options.
text: 2.
text: See comments.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/2704/James Webster
score: 5
sents: text: To deliquesce is to absorb moisture from the air.
text: That is not what your aloe is doing.
text: The gel is a colloid of protein and water.
text: The protein chainsare breaking down.
text: I would call that 'decay'.
text: Thixotropic colloids become more slippery under shear, because the chains get aligned when they are dragged past each other.
text: That is what happenswhen you pinch the fresh aloe.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/25638/Noami
score: 5
sents: text: Thixotropy is defined to be the gel -> fluid behavior you describe.
text: Another answer mentioned it but settled on a different word.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/12630/Perry
score: 1

Summary of the answers:
Thixotropy  is defined to be the gel -> fluid behavior you describe.  
Thixotropy describes this process.