For example: not a soda bottle full of water (that is a no brainer) But lets say a solid steel ball 10 foot around with a 4" space in the center full of water!!!!
Bring the temp. to well below freezing 'Would the water stay a liquid or turn to ice thus bursting the ball? I guess my question is Does water have to expand to become ice or can you have super cold water below the freezing point that is still a liquid?
2007-08-18 10:58:54 · 7 answers · asked by Thomas E 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
The water will turn to ice and it will expand. And it will break the ball, steel or not.
Try this with glass sometime if you want to see it in action
2007-08-18 11:07:22 · answer #1 · answered by Chief High Commander, UAN 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Well it won't burst the ball if the ball is 10 feet around, but the question will be whether it will freeze. I can't remember my college chemistry very well, nor my solid state physics, but I seem to recall something about the phase diagram of water that says at high pressures it turns into a different crystal lattice that is more tightly packed than the traditional ice you get at normal atmospheric pressure. If my memory is correct, then it would stay liquid until you got it cold enough to make that transition, I think.
OK, I looked up the phase diagram of water and I was right. It goes into molecular arrangements that are more dense than the liquid when you drop the temperature sufficiently or increase the pressure or both. At atmospheric you have to drop the temperature to about 200 K, but if you want it to freeze at 273 K (freezing point) you need to increase the pressure to about 1000 Pa. I'd have to calculate whether that thick walled ball could withstand that pressure, but I'm thinking it would. The half-inch thick walled ball the other guy was talking about would never withstand that.
2007-08-18 18:09:34 · answer #2 · answered by William D 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It Will not freeze, in order to enter a solid state a substance must become highly ordered, in the case of water the fact that one end is slightly charged positively and the other negatively water will enter a unique pattern that minimizes the repulsion of the + charged ends to each other and the - charged ends to each other and maximize the attraction of the opposite charges, this makes a pattern that has a lot of voids in it, hence why water expands as it freezes, if the
water can not enter this pattern the attractions and repulsions of the diff rent poles of the other water molecules will keep the solution in continual molecular motion so it will not freeze
However the force to expand is so great i question if even the huge steel ball won't fracture or warp out of shape
2007-08-18 21:01:20 · answer #3 · answered by Michael W 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
No. The steel ball is to thick to burst. But the water would eventually freeze. Water can be compressed a little in the right environment.
2007-08-22 16:16:38 · answer #4 · answered by Jackolantern 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Water must expand before becoming ice,if the container is unbreakable, the water will not freeze.
2007-08-22 14:26:45 · answer #5 · answered by johnandeileen2000 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
interesting question. well tempurature *should* be the only thing that matters. so in thoery it should turn into a liquid. but then again i dont think it could break almost 10 feet of steel.
im gonna say that if u cool down to water so it freezes then the ball will become brittle, so it could possibly break it.
2007-08-18 18:09:51 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
I have personally tried this with a half inch thick steel ball. The ball didn't hold.
2007-08-18 18:05:52 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋