I don't use ice very often, so if I leave the tray in there long enough before I pull it out to get some cubes they are nearly gone! They can't evaporate from solid form... right?
2007-04-15 22:01:55 · 7 answers · asked by Calico Skies 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Other - Science
If 'sublimation' is the answer, is there a basic explanation for how that works? (I'm actually interested in knowing why this happens)
2007-04-16 15:15:22 · update #1
There may be several answers to your question (I like the automatic defrost one) but, yes, solids do go from solid to gas by the process of sublimation. Iodine is a great example. It is a solid at room temperature, but left alone it just disappears, becoming gaseous by sublimation.
2007-04-15 22:28:19 · answer #1 · answered by ZORCH 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your water is subliming as a previous answer said. A frost free freezer DOES NOT heat up to defrost. That would melt ice cream and all the food would go bad because of freezing and melting. The humidity in the freezer is kept very very low so all moisture sublimes out. That makes the ice problem even worse.
2007-04-16 01:20:47 · answer #2 · answered by Gene 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
do no longer pay attention to the previous 2 solutions approximately SUBLIMATION. they're incorrect!!! the 1st guy is erroneous too. this is authentic that the technique of going from a reliable directly to a gasoline is spoke of as sublimation, yet that's no longer what's occurring as a effect. it is not attainable. gasoline is a manufactured from heating, no longer freezing. you may no longer cool some thing plenty that it turns right into a gasoline. to ensure that water to tutor right into a gasoline, it might could be heated to a hundred levels Celsius, which in simple terms does not take place in a freezer. As for the authentic answer to the question, ice cubes do no longer decrease in length interior the freezer. They enhance, so i've got faith you got puzzled while asking this question. this is why in case you place an entire bottle of water interior the freezer with the cap on, it is going to bust finally. the reason this for that's that ice is far less dense than water, that's why ice floats in water. that's because of the hydrogen bonding residences of H2O. *replace* to no longer insult every physique's intelligence, in spite of the undeniable fact that it is not attainable for sublimation to take place as a effect. Dry ice sublimates relatively at room temperature because of the fact the boiling factor of carbon dioxide is adverse seventy 8.4 levels Celsius, nicely below room temperature. to ensure that sublimation to take place the gasoline coming off the forged would desire to have been at as quickly as heated to its boiling factor. The boiling factor of water is a hundred levels Celsius, that could't be gained in a freezer. subsequently, it is not bodily attainable for sublimation to take place in a freezer with appreciate to ice.
2016-11-24 22:00:42 · answer #3 · answered by kostenbauber 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, any liquid can return to a gaseous state directly from a frozen solid, without going through the liquid phase. It's called "sublimation". Your ice cubes are sublimating away.
2007-04-15 22:05:00 · answer #4 · answered by charmedchiclet 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
You probably have a freezer with automatic defrost. Every so often it goes through a cycle where it raises the temp above freezing to get rid of frost and then cools back down. This cycle partially melts your ice cubes and they shrink...mine too. :)
2007-04-15 22:08:42 · answer #5 · answered by Some Guy 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
the water should increase in volume from about 3degrees centigrade until it reaches a solid state (ice), this is why ice-bergs float. and no the water cant evaporate from a solid form because the particles are locked in a solid lattice
2007-04-15 22:05:34 · answer #6 · answered by Jesk 6 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Because molekuls (allmost the smallest part) in the water get closer to each other because of low temperature.
2007-04-15 22:06:20 · answer #7 · answered by evkoll 2 · 0⤊ 3⤋