Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-24993958-20151118083252/@comment-24891101-20151210043340

It would. Technically it'd drop the temperature to absolute zero. But if it's a constant thing, then nothing can move for the duration of the effect, and so the phase transition (and so many other things) can't happen.

It's not a single theft of momentum, it's a constant suppression of momentum (at least as I read it), to be refunded at the end, which would bring the temperature back up.