I ask this question because I notice after a long period of time that when I finally use ice from an ice tray, the ice is half as small as the amount I put in to fill the tray. BUT I do notice that after just a few days of some use of other ice trays, the trays are full to the top with ice. I've checked each ice tray, and there are no leaks, and they've not been tipped over. So, does ice in ice trays evaporate over time?
2006-06-30 12:02:17 · 19 answers · asked by JBWPLGCSE 5 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Other - Science
It's not actually evaporation. It's sublimation; the change of phase is directly from solid to gas.
2006-06-30 12:14:02 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Does Ice Evaporate
2016-11-14 01:44:36 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If I read the tables correctly, the triple point of water is very close to its freezing point, at a fairly low pressure. That's the point where all three states (solid, liquid, gas) coexist. It's not likely that melting or evaporation is happening, but more likely that sublimation (transition from solid to gas) is happening. There's very little water in the air inside a modern frost-free freezer, so slow sublimation is likely.
Try an experiment. Use a shallow cup or jar lid so your family won't sacrifice your experiment to cool their sodas. Weigh it empty, then fill it with water, keep it on an upper surface open to the air, freeze it, and weigh it again. Weigh it at the same time every day, write the results, and graph them. You can make a simple balance with a ruler and two identical lids, one with your ice, and the other with enough pennies to balance it. See how much you are losing every day, and how long it would take to completely disappear. Sounds like fun!
2006-06-30 12:38:37 · answer #3 · answered by Frank N 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
In a frost-free freezer (in other words, in a reasonably modern refrigerator) what they do is even more interesting than evaporation: they sublimate! A scientist at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, explained it to us. That's what happens to snow in Flagstaff. It is cold enough that it does not melt, but if the air is dry enough, the frozen water (ice in the ice cube tray, snow on the ground in a very dry climate) goes directly from a solid to a gas, with no intervening liquid stage. When we were in Flagstaff, there was this huge pile of snow outside our motel room door, that just . . . went away. No puddles or anything, just disappeared.
2006-06-30 12:10:40 · answer #4 · answered by auntb93again 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Personally, I would think that they do evaporate but at varying speeds, much slower in the frozen state of course. But the real evaporation occurs when you open the freezer door and let the cubes get a blast of warm(er) air. This would cause the cubes to evaporate a little at a time (that fog that comes off of cold things). This is what I think, I am not completely sure. I hope this helps.
2006-06-30 12:07:00 · answer #5 · answered by White Rabbit 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have noticed this too so I am assuming that yes the ice is evaporating into the air in the freezer.
2006-06-30 12:09:52 · answer #6 · answered by greenfrogs 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes and no. yes, because a process called sublimation releases the moisture from the ice cubes into the air. no, because this is not really defined as evaporation.
2006-06-30 12:46:12 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, both refrigerators AND freezers dry out air when cooling it...and the ice evaporates....
2006-06-30 12:05:47 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes.
Actually the ice below the triple point of water (about 0.1 C) actually sublimes - it goes from solid to vapour with no liquid phase.
2006-06-30 13:41:42 · answer #9 · answered by Epidavros 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes it does. It goes from solid to liquid to gas to nothing! My son did that in a AScience project and eventually it does evaporate
2006-06-30 12:05:55 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋