Question

From a thermodynamic view Explain what happens when a glass drink bottle is placed into a container of ice.

Answer 1

When a liquid is frozen, all of the molecules start sticking to each other and holding on very tightly. Because different types of molecules have different shapes, they hold on to each other in different places. Most of the time, when they start holding on to each other, they get closer together. When the molecules get closer together, they take up less space, so the frozen solid ends up being smaller than the unfrozen liquid.

When the water molecules start holding on to each other really tightly, they make a pattern that actually takes up /more/ space than they did when they weren't stuck together. (This pattern is what you see if you look at ice crystals.) So, when water freezes, the molecules take up more space, and the ice ends up being even /bigger/ than the water was.

If you were to put that water in a closed container in the freezer, then it would still get bigger. if you were to put it in a very full, tightly sealed glass container, then the frozen water would be pushing so hard that the glass might break. This is why if you put a glass bottle of juice in the freezer, you're supposed to take the lid off until it's frozen all the way.