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Subject:      Re: Ice spikes in freezer?
From:         billbeskimo.com (William Beaty)
Date:         1998/05/29
Message-ID:   <6kn8uk$u10$1@eskinews.eskimo.com>
Newsgroups:   sci.physics
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Lollygagpr (lollygagpr@aol.com) wrote:
: Anyone know why sometimes a cube or two of ice in the freezer will have a sha
rp
: spike coming out of the cube? In mine they get up to an inch or so. Anyone kn
ow
: what I'm taking about? The only thing I can think of is that there is some so
rt
: of E-field in the fridge that cuases this. Like a  small stream of water
: bending around a comb with static electricity on it. Anyway, this has been
: bugging me for a while. Let me know if anyone knows the answer. Thanks.

If the power fails and is later restored, then ice cubes may freeze
starting at the bottom, since the tray is in contact with the cooling
coils under the surface.

If this occurs, then as the water expands upon freezing, the remaining
pocket of liquid water gets squeezed ( the fluid-filled hole contracts
faster than it would if the water simply solidified without expanding.)

As the hole contracts, the water level rises and the edge of the pool
solidifies.  The end result would be a small "caustic" pyramid in the
center of the cube.  If you melt a spot in an icecube by using a soldering
iron, then watch it re-freeze, you'll see the small pyramid appear.

If the walls and top of the ice cube contract too fast, then a sort of
"squeeze-bulb" is formed, and water is slowly squirted upwards while its
edges freeze.  A sort of upside-down stalactite is the result.  If you
look carefully, you can often see sheets of bubbles in the clear ice which
outline the old bounadaries of the water pocket.  There will be a row of
bubbles in the center of the ice-spine, since dissolved air comes out of
solution as the walls of ice close on the remaining channel of water.

Sometimes the ice-spines are tilted.  This probably is because of the fan
in the freezer, if one side of the water drop at the tip of the spine is
frozen faster, the water at the tip of the spine would expand in the
opposite direction.  Or perhaps the "wind" just blows the droplet
sideways, so it grows diagonally as the edges of the "pipe" lengthen.

I've never heard of anyone filming a time-lapse of this phenomena.  I bet
such a thing would get time on the evening news...
--
((((((((((((((((((((( ( (  (   (    (O)    )   )  ) ) )))))))))))))))))))))
William J. Beaty                                  SCIENCE HOBBYIST website
billbeskimo.com                                  amasci.com
EE/programmer/sci-exhibits          science projects, tesla, weird science
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