When freezing occurs, heat is given off. This process is known as exothermic, where energy is released into the surroundings as the liquid transforms into a solid.
To understand this better, let’s consider the freezing of water. When water cools down to its freezing point, the molecules begin to slow down and arrange themselves into a more ordered structure, forming ice. This transition from a liquid to a solid state requires the water to lose energy in the form of heat.
The heat released during freezing is referred to as the latent heat of fusion. It is the energy released when a substance changes from liquid to solid without changing temperature. So, in short, during the freezing process, heat is indeed given off to the environment.