Sage-Tips

How much pressure does it take to keep water from freezing?

It takes over 1000 psi to lower the freezing point of water by one degree F! It seems inevitable that the vast majority of water pipes would freeze (and presumably break?) long before the real temp of the pipe and the water inside got down to 20°F, which would require a pressure of over 10,000 psi.

Does water expand when frozen?

Water is one of the few exceptions to this behavior. When liquid water is cooled, it contracts like one would expect until a temperature of approximately 4 degrees Celsius is reached. After that, it expands slightly until it reaches the freezing point, and then when it freezes it expands by approximately 9\%.

What happens when water in a crack freeze?

If water gets into a crack in a rock and then freezes, it expands and pushes the crack further apart. When the ice melts later, water can get further into the crack. When the water freezes, it expands and makes the crack even bigger.

What is the best prediction of what will occur if the water in the cracks of the rock freezes?

When water freezes, it expands. Water that has seeped into a rock will expand when frozen, causing cracks in the rock. After it freezes and thaws several times, bits of rock will begin to split off entirely.

Can water be below zero and not freeze?

In order for water to freeze to ice, it needs something to freeze onto to start the process. But if your water is very pure and very still, there is nothing for the water molecules to crystallize onto. As a result, you can cool very pure water well below zero degrees Celsius without it freezing.

Does pressure affect the freezing point of water?

This spreading-out action of the water molecules during freezing also means that applying pressure to water lowers the freezing point. If you apply enough pressure (making it hard for the water molecules to spread out into the solid structure), you can have liquid water several degrees below zero degrees Celsius.

Does water freeze under high pressure?

Air pressure certainly affects the freezing temperature. The higher the pressure, the lower the freezing temperature. Since it will take water longer to reach the lower temperature, I’d expect that it would freeze more slowly. There are two ways that the higher pressure lowers the freezing temperature.

Why did the water not expand upwards?

Because of the shape of the water molecule and the angles that it forms when it bonds, the solid form of water actually ends up taking up more space than liquid.

Where is freeze/thaw most common?

Freeze-thaw weathering is common in regions where the temperature often drops below freezing at night. It does not happen much in warm climates, or in very cold places like Antarctica, where the temperature seldom rises above zero!

What is the freeze/thaw effect?

Definition: Freeze-thaw weathering is a process of erosion that happens in cold areas where ice forms. When the temperature rises again, the ice melts, and the water fills the newer parts of the crack. The water freezes again as the temperature falls, and the expansion of the ice causes further expansion to the crack.

What happens when water freezes in a closed container?

So, when water freezes, the molecules take up more space, and the ice ends up being even /bigger/ than the water was. If you were to put that water in a closed container in the freezer, then it would still get bigger. What happens to the container depends on what sort of a container it is.

Can water turn into ice if you freeze it too strong?

So, to answer the initial question, if you froze water inside a container so strong it couldn’t turn into ice, it would still turn into ice, just a slightly different type of ice in terms of scientific classification and its internal structure. Science! If you liked this article, you might also enjoy:

Why does ice expand when it freezes?

Back to the question at hand, regular ice, or at least the version you were familiar with before we told you about the other 14 kinds, is capable of applying massive amounts of force when it freezes and expands. This is due to a very unique trait of water, mainly that it is less dense as a solid than as a liquid.

Can you put frozen water in a glass container?

Q & A: Freezing Water. But if you were to put it in a very full, tightly sealed glass container, then the frozen water would be pushing so hard that the glass might break. This is why if you put a glass bottle of juice in the freezer, you’re supposed to take the lid off until it’s frozen all the way. Follow-up on this answer.