The case of the disappeared ice cubes

[oneighty]

The ice cube tray was empty, dry and devoid of even a trace of water. I distinctly recalled filling the ice trays with water several months ago. All three of the ice trays in the freezer were dry.

How could that be I wondered?

180

[Richard D]

1. freeze dried

Part of the defrost cycle removes water from the freezer. They are still evaporating, albeit very slowly. That's why they dried out. either that or kitchen gremlins.

[skypilot]

2. Ok. You've got my attention.

I've had this happen to me recently. Twice. It didn't even take months to happen. What the hell? The thing is, it only happens with ONE of the ice trays I have in the freezer.

[jeff30997]

3. Kitchen gremlins !

Those are the most eeeeeeeeevil I tell you !

[skypilot]

12. It's kinda funny because...

...I got this refrigerator about eight months ago and for awhile I thought that I was hearing strange noises coming from the freezer. I simply dismissed it as the sound of a new refrigerator that I wasn't quite used to. Then...the fucking ice cubes started disappearing!!! I thought that maybe it had something to do with the refrigerator's defrosting itself but why, WHY only the one ice tray??:wtf:

[On the Road]

18. Is One of the Trays Near a Vent?

It could be that only one gets a steady stream of dry air.

[skypilot]

19. I'll have to check on that.

Would the shape of the cubes make any differnce? One tray makes round cubes with a hole in the middle but the tray that keeps turning up empty makes long, half-cylinder shaped cubes.

[DBoon]

4. look at the bottom of your freezer

is there a big chunk of ice?

If so, mystery solved.

[BlueEyedSon]

5. Sublimation

Look it up.

[oneighty]

10. Yes

I figured that out all by myself. Then I did a Google search. First thing up confirmed my suspicions.

Still it was a WTF moment.

180

[BlueEyedSon]

13. After they're made put them in a ziplock or Tupperware container.

Keeps the cubes from "getting away"....

[Kota]

6. Do you have teenagers or a spouse?

[Acryliccalico]

7. Yes if you leave your

trays in too long they will evaporate. It is due to the defrost cycles of the refrigerator.:kick:

[Demit]

8. Also, don't fill the trays with hot water, the cubes'll evaporate faster.

[oneighty]

11. The hot water might freeze faster

There are reasons for that. Make your head ache.

180

[Demit]

15. And you'll have smaller ice cubes.

It SEEMS to freeze faster b/c there's less water to freeze--because of the evaporation.

[oneighty]

20. Yes

And ice cubes devoid of dissolved gasses.

180

[swimmernsecretsea]

9. 'twas the butler, in the pantry, with the club...

There have been times where I just got the dang thing in the freezer and a roommate pulled it out and looked at it, as if freezers work like microwaves. Then, when the ice was solid, they emptied it and put the empty tray in the freezer so I could find it easier. Nice, no?

[NNadir]

14. Here's the phase diagram of water, including "ice 9."

http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/water/phase.html

If you look at the temperature axis you will see that the line between solid and liquid (the melting point of water) at around 273K (0C) ends at about 10^3 Pascal or roughly 0.1% of atmospheric pressure (around 10^5). This is known as the "triple point" of water, where it coexists as a solid, a liquid and a gas. The pressures just below the triple point are the vapor pressures of ice at various temperatures. What the vapor pressure means, is that if you place ice in an evacuated container, without melting it, the pressure in the container will eventually rise to the value given on the y-axis, pressure. All of the gas in the container at this point will be water vapor.

This means your ice evaporated, just as it would have done were it a liquid. Most people are familiar with sublimation of dry ice, but almost all solids theoretically have some vapor pressure, even iron. That said, the vapor pressure of most solids is not noticeable, but ice is an excellent exception to this rule. Its vapor pressure is quite high at ordinarily accessible temperatures.

Sometimes the sublimation of snow is quite noticeable, in which small amounts of snow seem to disappear without actually melting.

Ice 9, as I'm sure most people know, is largely known from Kurt Vonnegut's novel, "Cat's Cradle," where it was described as having very unusual thermodynamic properties. The real ice 9 is nothing like Kurt's fantasy substance but a form of solid known as ice 9 does in fact exist.

The red dot on the right between the vapor and liquid phases is known as the critical point of water and the vapor to its right is said to be in the supercritical state. If the human race survives, industrial operations with supercritical water will probably be a big part of the reason why it does so.

[Igel]

16. #1's right.

"Sublimation" is the word you're after. Just like moth balls.

[BlueEyedSon]

17. The example I usually use is dry ice, cause you can watch it happen.

But mothballs are good too!