Question

Milk in a glass bottle was placed in the freezing compartment of a refrigerator overnight. By morning, a column of frozen milk emerged from the bottle. Explain this observation. (IMAGE CAN'T COPY)

Short answer

Frozen milk expands and pushes out of the bottle due to water expansion on freezing.

Step-by-step solution

Understanding the Problem

First, let's understand what happens when milk gets frozen. Milk is mostly water with other components like fats, proteins, and sugars dissolved in it.

Water Expansion upon Freezing

Recognize that water expands when it freezes. This is a unique property of water due to the formation of ice crystals which occupy more space.

Volume Change

As the milk freezes, the water content in it expands and the volume increases. Since the volume increases while the container remains rigid, the frozen milk pushes out.

Observation Explanation

The column of frozen milk emerging from the bottle is because the expansion of water upon freezing exerts pressure that pushes the ice outward, breaking through the level of the bottle's neck.

Key concepts

Water Expansion

When water freezes, it undergoes a transformation that many find surprising. Most liquids contract and become denser as they cool, but water does the opposite.
During freezing, water expands rather than contracts. This expansion results from its molecular structure.

• Water molecules form a crystalline structure held together by hydrogen bonds when the temperature drops below 0°C (32°F).
• This structure is less dense than liquid water, causing the water to expand.
• The expansion can be up to about 9% more by volume compared to its liquid state.

This property may seem minor, but it has enormous implications, such as the bursting of pipes in winter or the phenomenon observed in our exercise with milk in a bottle.

Ice Crystal Formation

Ice crystals form when water freezes, creating a structured arrangement of water molecules. The formation of these crystals is what gives ice its solid form.

• As temperatures drop, the movement of water molecules slows, allowing them to settle into a fixed pattern.
• You can imagine this as a large grid, where each water molecule is linked to its neighbors via hydrogen bonds.
• This arrangement maximizes the space between molecules, which is unique to water and makes ice less dense than liquid water.

This process allows ice to float, but importantly for our exercise, as ice forms, it occupies more space than the liquid state. Thus, when milk freezes, it causes the volume to increase, which can be observed as milk expands out of a bottle.

Volume Change upon Freezing

Freezing leads to an increase in volume due to the characteristics of water's crystalline structure. This increase isn't unique to just water, but in water, it happens in a well-known and predictable way.

• The increase in volume is due to the formation of ice crystals, as we discussed.
• In a confined space, like a glass bottle, this expansion cannot be contained.
• The result is the outward push that causes frozen contents to spill out.

In practical scenarios such as the frozen milk exercise, this means any expansion of water trapped in containers must find a way out, typically upwards, breaking the original boundaries of its container.

Properties of Water

Water's properties are intriguing and play a fundamental role in many natural and man-made processes. Some of its properties include:

• High specific heat capacity: Water can absorb a lot of heat before its temperature rises significantly, making it an excellent temperature regulator.
• Cohesive and adhesive nature: Water molecules tend to stick together, contributing to surface tension, while also sticking to other surfaces, aiding in capillary action.
• Expansive freezing: As we've seen, water expands upon freezing due to its unique molecular structure, which is relatively rare among substances.

These properties make water an essential and versatile component of any environment, playing a crucial role in weather patterns, biological organisms, and numerous other systems. The freezing of milk in a glass bottle demonstrates how these properties can influence everyday events.