system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Is it possible to freeze water while electricity is flowing?
gpt
Well, as you may know, water is actually a very poor conductor. What lets it conduct in daily life are dissolved ions which can conduct, and crucially, are very mobile in liquid water. Let's assume you mean water with these ions, of course. As you cool it, conductivity will slowly decrease as in mobility drops.

If fully frozen, these ions become almost immobile (there is still diffusion in solid state, but in time and distance scales that is insignificant). This makes ice a very poor conductor even with ions embedded. If saturated with ions, conductivity would be higher, but still low.

That being said, it could still conduct a little bit, depending on applied voltage/current, size if your piece of ice, etc. But, if you try to pump too much through your ice, the resistivity of the water will cause heating and very easily and quickly melt the ice, which in turn would increase conductivity again.

In fact, some pipe systems have used this effect to prevent freezing, and it's somewhat similar to power lines that use resistive heating to thaw it percent I've buildup. Now, with power lines, the resistance comes from the line itself and not from conduction through water, but it still shows how electrical resistance can generate heat.