This past July I stocked my outdoor mini fridge with all types of beverages, water, juice, beer, etc... After a few days I noticed that one of the bottled waters was frozen. Thinking it was the placement in the fridge, I moved it around. I noticed that it still remained frozen, yet nothing else in the fridge was frozen. As the months passed and eventually just about everything was consumed, that one bottle has stayed frozen this entire time. A few days ago, I moved the fridge into the basement. Tonight I took the temperature of the last remaining unfrozen bottled water in there, it was 36 degrees. Same temp for an apple juice that was also in there. What gives, how is this water still frozen?
Frozen bottled water
- Thread starter crabboy
- Start date
- May 3, 2007
- 16,828
- Pool Size
- 20000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
It takes quite a bit of heat to melt ice. In fact, it takes as much heat to melt ice as it would to raise the temperature of an equivalent mass of water by about 144 deg F (i.e. 144 BTU per pound of ice). The problem is that when the fridge is at 36 deg F, it will take a very long time for the ice to absorb enough heat to melt. Heat transfer is proportional to the temperature difference of the materials.
You are seeing why ice boxes used to work before electrical/mechanical refrigeration. As Mark wrote, ice has to absorb a lot of heat in order to melt, so once things are cooled down and is exposed to temperatures not much higher than freezing, it takes a long time to melt. Ice houses stored ice that was harvested in the winter and were insulated such that the ice would last for many months.
Nevertheless, people do defrost frozen items slowly by putting them into the refrigerator, but unless the refrigerator is unusually warm (closer to 40F instead of 36F), such items only soften up on their surface.
Even so, I am a bit surprised that your bottle of water didn't melt much over months. I'd at least expect it to have an ice middle and a sloshy outside. Perhaps its container was particularly insulating or maybe the liquid wasn't really water.
Richard
Nevertheless, people do defrost frozen items slowly by putting them into the refrigerator, but unless the refrigerator is unusually warm (closer to 40F instead of 36F), such items only soften up on their surface.
Even so, I am a bit surprised that your bottle of water didn't melt much over months. I'd at least expect it to have an ice middle and a sloshy outside. Perhaps its container was particularly insulating or maybe the liquid wasn't really water.
Richard
chem geek said:or maybe the liquid wasn't really water.
Richard
Maybe it was ... di-hydrogen monoxide
:lol: