I left a one gallon plastic bottle of water in the freezer for about four hours. When I took it out it was still liquid, but as I poured it into a glass pitcher it instantly froze, or almost. Made me do a double take. It was coming out of the plastic bottle as liquid, but I'd say 95% of what landed in the pitcher instantly formed a semi-solid pile of slush, with a small amount of liquid water. I kept pouring and it kept stacking up like a pile of translucent snow. At first I thought it was solid ice. I stirred it with a spoon and it was very loose, almost cloudy, but it did not dissipate until maybe 20 minutes later as the pitcher sat out in room temperature. How did that happen?
Pouring ice
- Thread starter Sushifiend3000
- Start date
The water in the freezer was trying to freeze, but couldn't due to increased pressure in the bottle. Since the water molecules could not form the necessary hexagonal conformation to freeze, the internal energy kept decreasing. When you poured it, the pressure decreased, further decreasing the temperature and inducing freezing. That's my guess. 
you probally supercooled it while in the container. the atmospheric pressure prevented it from freezing, but once you poured it into 1atm open air, it was able to freeze.
here's a little nifty thing to do:
Get a small plastic drink container (i.e. plastic Coke or pepsi container) and fill it with water to the hilt. Put the lid on and stick it in the freezer for 45min to an hour (depends on temp of water and the condition of the freezer). After it's been in there long enough, the water will be at 32F but no ice will have formed. Take the bottle out and thump it sharply on the side or top. In a couple of seconds you'll see some perfectly formed tiny shaped crystals grow larger until the entire bottle is slush. Kinda neat.
Get a small plastic drink container (i.e. plastic Coke or pepsi container) and fill it with water to the hilt. Put the lid on and stick it in the freezer for 45min to an hour (depends on temp of water and the condition of the freezer). After it's been in there long enough, the water will be at 32F but no ice will have formed. Take the bottle out and thump it sharply on the side or top. In a couple of seconds you'll see some perfectly formed tiny shaped crystals grow larger until the entire bottle is slush. Kinda neat.
I work part time a couple evenings a week at a supermarket, for the benefits mostly, anyway everynight I take 5-9 bottles of lipton iced tea and put them in the frozen meat case with bags of meat products on top to get it cold quiclkly. We will drink the first few in the first few hours of our shift, however when we open the bottles around 4-5 hours after they have been in there, they will stay liguid as long as they are sealed as soon as you open up it takes about 1 second for the entire bottle to become mostly ice, it's kind of neat. I believe that the first person responding to the question is quite correct, it has to do with pressure and the sealed container. Oh well that's my story and I stand by it.
So I'm the last person in the world to experience this. Awesome.
Anyone know how cold the water can get without freezing? And by the way, how come the water in the bottle didn't freeze when I opened it? About four or five seconds passed between opening it and pouring it.
Anyone know how cold the water can get without freezing? And by the way, how come the water in the bottle didn't freeze when I opened it? About four or five seconds passed between opening it and pouring it.
it was probally already crystallizing, you just noticed the bulk of it after it was in the glass
I've noticed the same thing before. Take a bottle of liquid ~32 degree water, open the bottle, and ice crystals start to form... Pretty cool.
In the summer I can get my fridge to cool to about -1C or there abouts at the bottom. This allows me to pour a glass of coke which will then turn to slush as I drink it. Really great when its hot.
Jeff7
Lifer
- Jan 4, 2001
- 41,596
- 20
- 81
Sounds like superheated water in the microwave - it can be above boiling, but if it doesn't have any tiny bubbles or impurities, it has trouble breaking its own surface tension to boil. Moving the container, or adding something like sugar can make it boil rapidly.
Perhaps it lacked nucleation sites? And only when it hit some stuff in the galls could it crystallise?
I've had the same thing happen with a can of beer. The fridge was set to something like -20F (cold little sucker for a dorm fridge/freezer!!!). You take a can out and it is still very much a liquid. Pop the top, and it is still a liquid (for a few seconds anyway!). Set the can down (or keep holding it if you like freezing your fingers off!) and then pick it up after a couple of minutes and it will be frozen solid. It then takes at least 5 to 10 minutes before it thaws enough to drink. The beer is so cold when you drink it that you almost can't taste it! Given that I don't really like the taste of beer and I was HOT as hades from working on my truck all day, that was by far the best beer I had ever drank!
You wouldn't be able to cool it much below its freezing point. Eventually the container won't be able to exert enough pressure to keep the water liquid, and either the container will shatter or bend, depending. My guess for water (not beer, the alcohol will change the freezing point) is maybe a couple degrees below freezing. Not much more.
EightySix Four
Diamond Member
- Jul 17, 2004
- 5,122
- 52
- 91
Had that happen to a glass of hot chocolate once... it apparently got that hot in the microwave.. grabbed the glass and the surface tension broke. Whole thing blew up in my hand sending me to the hospital for burns.
Yeah, superheated water is dangerous. I was doing an experiment in the Unit Ops lab and the output was superheated water. When it came out, it looked like normal water, with little wisps of steam - unnaturally calm. One of my buddies accidentally stumbled while carrying a bucket of it, and it spilled onto his boot. He instantly suffered second degree burns - the heat instantly transfered through the boot, through his socks and to his skin.
Yeah, supercooling's great. I love turning my mini-fridge temp gauge all the way down and sticking a few bottles of soda or sparkling flavored water in. Then after a few hours, pour some into a cup quickly (so the frozen slush doesn't freeze in the neck of the bottle and clog it up) and add some vodka or tequila. Mmm...
There is a picture of this phenomenon occuring in a lake in Siberia. The temperature dropped something like 70 degrees in about an hour. The water in the lake was supercooled and didn't freeze until a horse fell in, at which time it turned instantly to ice. The picture is the frozen horse hanging half way out of the frozen lake.
heh just had this happen tonight. Left a sealed unopened 1gallon bottle of arizona iced tea in the freezer. It was liquid when I pulled it out. I was ready to enjoy a nice cold ice tea after a workout then as soon as I opened it, it turned into slush, actually moreso, more like soft ice. I couldn't pour it anymore. Had to let it rest in room temp for several minutes before I could drink some.
I exploit this weird nature of ice physics for making drinks. You can make a drink mix such as margherita mix. Put it in the freezer in a sealed container (sometimes works without a seal). Depending on how much alcohol you got in there it won't freeze, just get slightly slushy. When you take it out to pour though it will get even slushier making a nice frozen drink. YOu can put hard liquors in the freezer too and they wont freeze like vodka. Be careful taking shots or anything though, you can seriously freeze burn your mouth and esophogus or at the least get a nasty cold headache.
I exploit this weird nature of ice physics for making drinks. You can make a drink mix such as margherita mix. Put it in the freezer in a sealed container (sometimes works without a seal). Depending on how much alcohol you got in there it won't freeze, just get slightly slushy. When you take it out to pour though it will get even slushier making a nice frozen drink. YOu can put hard liquors in the freezer too and they wont freeze like vodka. Be careful taking shots or anything though, you can seriously freeze burn your mouth and esophogus or at the least get a nasty cold headache.
Must have been a pretty small lake.. Seems like you would have the problem of the water being pure enough for that to happen.
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