Friday, 15 July 2016

Why Ice Cubes are Cloudy on the Inside?

Take an ice cube and observe it carefully, you will notice that it is somewhat cloudy. If the water is pure then liquid water should freeze as a clear solid, but ice cubes commonly have a cloudy appearance. Why is it so? And what makes the Ice cube looks cloudy? This leads to some interesting facts.

The cloudy appearance of the ice cube is due to the presence of imperfections that is air bubbles. As ice forms pure water solidifies leaving the dissolved gases and salts in solution. Thus the freezing process concentrates the dissolved species in smaller and smaller volumes of liquid solution effectively increasing their concentration. With a higher concentration of dissolved material the temperature at which additional ice will form is lowered. The cloudiness in the center of an ice cube thus is the consequence of the concentration dissolved gases and minerals that refract light and create an opaque appearance.

Ice Cubes are Cloudy on the Inside
Ice cubes can appear cloudy for other reasons too. If the freezer compartment is opened as lot, water vapor will condense on top of the ice cube tray to form a fine frost. And if the water is oxygenated as if it run into the trays from a spraying tap, it will also form ice that looks milky rather than clear.

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