why do exposed water pipes burst during severe frost? Why does tea get cooled when sugar is added to it?

Answer 1

As mentioned before - water expands when it freezes. Ice takes up about 10% more space than water does so when the water in a pipe freezes it expands and can cause the pipe to crack. Sometimes the water may have frozen and thawed several times and each time it weakens the pipe a bit more until it eventually cracks.

This isn't so much of a problem with lead and plastic pipes as these can expand themselves but what can happen is that the joins between pipes fail as these don't expand at the same rate. The clay and cement pipes are really bad for cracking when the water freezes because clay and cncrete can't expand at all.

As for putting sugar into tea - the principle is the same when putting anything cold into something hot. Heat from the hot medium (the tea) is transferred to the colder object (the sugar) until both are at the same temperature (equilibrium). Same principle as when you put a hot stone into a bucket of water, only in this instance it's the liquid which will get hotter.

Answer 2

This is bad news for plumbing because extreme cold makes materials brittle and liquid expands when it freezes, a dangerous combination that can cause all types of plumbing tube to crack or burst open, spilling water everywhere.
For any measureable temperature difference between the top and bottom of the mug, the system will convect very efficiently. Therefore adding sugar cools the tea...

Answer 3

Water, unlike most substances, expands with great pressure when it freezes. When cooled sufficiently, the normally random molecules in the water are aligned in a crystalline structure that pushes out in all directions.
The sugar is simply at room temperatures and the tea transfers some of its heat to the sugar when the sugar is added.

Answer 4

Water freezes in extreme low temperatures and it increases in size thus pushing the pipes until they burst. When sugar is added to tea it absorbs some of its heat and it cools it.

Answer 5

water actually EXPANDS when it freezes, so if a water pipe is full of water and it is allowed to freeze, it will take a larger volume than the diameter of the pipe, and break the pipe. This is also why ice cubes FLOAT - it expands, and therefore has a lower DENSITY than water, allowing ice cubes to float.

As for sugar in tea, I don't know if this is the case, but it would require a chemical reaction, however, most reactions release heat, they don't absorb heat.

Answer 6

water pipes burst in severe frost due to loss of elasticity.(not
sure).

when sugar is added to tea endothermic reaction takes place as a result of which tea cools.

Answer 7

Water expands at temps lower then 4 C. Sugar is in crystal form, breaking the crystal lattice probably uses some energy, but most of the heat is probably being absorbed by you spoon while you stir, metal is a great conductor.

Answer 8

when water freezes its density increases and water pipe bursts.whenever impurity is added the temperature decreases.