Spikes in the ice cube tray

Factual Questions
1

No, not the bleached vampire.

Last week I filled my ice cube tray with water, put it in the freezer, and waited. Well, not sat around and waited for the ice to form. I do have a life. I mean, I knew it would be a while.

Anyway, when I checked later, I found that one ice cube had a once-inch tall, thin spike of ice protruding from the center of the top.

Why and/or how does this formation occur?

2

I find it happens everytime I use warm water to fill the ice tray. A guess would be that the liquid in each individual cube cools and freezes at different rates. the spike is the last cooling point for the centre of the cube. like a reverse stalagmite.(sp?)

This is tongue in cheek at best.

3

Here be some spikecicle threads:

Stalagmites in ice cube tray?!
WIERD ice-cubes.
Spikecicles (reprise)

4

Difinitive answer Here .

5

Shoulda known it’d come up before.

Thanks for the info, y’all. Makes sense.

6

Slightly off-topic: if you freeze some ice cubes and stick them in a covered box for a month or so, you get some very nice ice crystals forming. They’re hexagonal planes which meet to form hexahedral structures. Quite interesting, that.

7

You all have it wrong, the growths are the result of energy contained in expanded water molecules.

http://www.johnellis.com/wonders.htm
And this man must knows what he’s talking about because he’s got photographic proof.

http://www.johnellis.com/wisdom.htm

So there you have it. The growths are caused by expanded water molecules and constitue proof that electrons are present. And they only occur when it’s raining, or in plants or, umm, something