If a liquid is below its saturation temperature, what is its condition?

When a liquid is below its saturation temperature, it is referred to as being subcooled. This means that the liquid is in a state where it has not yet reached the temperature at which it would begin to boil and turn into vapor at a given pressure. Being subcooled indicates that the liquid has additional thermal energy capacity before it transitions to the vapor phase, allowing it to absorb heat without changing its state.

This understanding is critical in refrigeration and thermodynamics, as maintaining a liquid in a subcooled state can enhance the efficiency of refrigeration cycles by preventing premature vaporization in components such as condensers or evaporators.

Other conditions listed, such as vaporized or superheated, refer to states of a substance that has reached its boiling point or transitioned into vapor, and saturated refers to the condition where the liquid and vapor coexist at equilibrium at a specific temperature and pressure. These conditions do not apply when the liquid is definitively below its saturation temperature.