I bought a house a few months ago. It’s a very old house with very old appliances. None of those new-fangled ice dispensers for me, just a couple of dollar store ice cube trays. Not a problem. Or so I thought.
When I went to retrieve my first batch of perfectly frozen water to make my non-frozen water more acceptable as a beverage, this is what I found in the freezer:
I thought it had to be some weird fluke. I called my husband over to show him this (surely) once in a lifetime sight. I used the ice, refilled the tray, and came back the next day for more ice. It happened again. Just about every tray of ice I’ve made in the last 6 months has looked like it’s trying to escape.
Is this normal? Is my freezer haunted? Am I risking getting possessed every time I want a cold drink? Is there someone I should talk to about this?
Hey Kelli, it’s me, Science.
Do you have a water softener or filter? If so, this is the cause of your conundrum.
You see, water normally freezes into ice through a process called nucleation, which means that tiny ice crystals will form around impurities like dust and small minerals. From there, the crystals grow until they fill the whole ice cube tray.
With purified water, there aren’t any of those small particles (nucleation sites) for the crystals to latch onto, so instead, they start forming from the outer walls of the ice cube tray itself. Since the ice freezes from the outside in, you are eventually left with a hole in the middle of the top layer of ice, which is then pushed up during the final stages of the freezing process.
See this article for a full explanation with pictures.
Sincerely,
Science
Actually, my pastor says that Science is evil and wrong. You better have him come to your house and do an exorcism on your freezer. Don’t listen to Science’s lies.
Hey, glad that i stumble on this in google. Thanks!