# WIERD ice-cubes. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 17, 2003, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wierd-ice-cubes/162095 "2003-03-17T21:02:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tarkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Tarkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarkin)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wierd-ice-cubes/162095/1 "2003-03-17T21:02:49Z")
My freezer is in the Twilight Zone. Or maybe I should call Mulder. About once a month my ice cubes grow Stalagmites. Yes that is right **stalagmites** from the ice cube it grows UP. To my mind that defies the law of gravity. I do have a frost-free freezer. Does anyone know: [ul] [li]Are they safe to use?[/li][li]What causes this?[/li][li]How to stop it from happening?[/li][li]How to MAKE it happen?[/li][li]If I can make any money selling the photos I took of them?[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wierd-ice-cubes/162095/2 "2003-03-17T21:08:45Z")
Sorry, **tarkin** - it happens to the best of us. I thought it odd the first time I saw it, but I simply attributed it to having put warm water in the ice tray… It is very weird though. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wierd-ice-cubes/162095/3 "2003-03-17T21:17:19Z")
See this thread: [Spikecicles (reprise)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=111107) ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wierd-ice-cubes/162095/4 "2003-03-17T21:21:37Z")
[pedantic rant] I before E except after C Except when it sounds like “A” As in neighbor and weigh Oh, and “weird”. [/pedantic rant] ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wierd-ice-cubes/162095/5 "2003-03-17T22:06:43Z")
**CookingWithGas** , I guess nobody told Albert Ienstien that he mispelled his name twice. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wierd-ice-cubes/162095/6 "2003-03-17T22:30:12Z")
I checked that other thread (but not all the links in it) and I didn’t see my particular version of a hypothesis mentioned (although I am sure I am not unique in thinking this: 1. The water around the edge freezes forst, expanding slightly 2. the remaining liquid water, contained by a ring of expanded ice, rises up a little, but because of surface tension it does not spill over 3. Water adjacent to the ice ring freezes next, forming a new ice ring 4. if liquid water remains then go to 2 It might seem that this would not form a spike, but I reckon it would because the ice (probably) freezes at a fairly linear rate from the outside inwards, but the remaining area of water does not decrease in linear proportion. [Here](http://homepage.ntlworld.com/gurman/icecube.GIF) is a very crude diagram of what I believe is happening (NB: the ‘stepped’ effect is an artifact of the diagram being divided into discrete ‘frames’ - in reality, the freezing process is smoothly continuous). ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wierd-ice-cubes/162095/7 "2003-03-17T23:03:48Z")
I want to point out that prior to the theory attributed to me, I had written > [@](#): > > While I like the “supercooled water squirting out, then freezing” theory better, I have another candidate explanation. I like the sublimation and refreezing idea less and less every time I see it. Currently, I favor **Cornflakes** explanation. ( **Mangetout** , that’s the same as yours, I believe.) ---
**Author:** ![Tarkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Tarkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarkin)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wierd-ice-cubes/162095/8 "2003-03-18T00:25:42Z")
So pretty much everybody assumes their is nothing wrong with the ice cubes? No Tri-gliceral -methan-ergic acid or something like that in the water? I should note, that from carefull observation, I see the stalagmites appear to grow to a certain size, then they shrink, often ending up totally gone. Also, the edges of the ice-cube tend to form slopes, making it look a little bit like a satelite dish. (High outside, low middle with a spike. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wierd-ice-cubes/162095/9 "2003-03-18T01:16:59Z")
Is anyone going to install a time-lapse camera system in their freezer in the interest of science? I would, but my freezer doesn’t seem to want to grow this type of ice formation. ---
**Author:** ![Davebear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Davebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Davebear)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wierd-ice-cubes/162095/10 "2003-03-18T02:54:11Z")
Interesting. I’ve only seen that once, before, and I don’t have that fridge, any more. But, I have doubts about **Mangetout** ’s theory (No offence, dude), because the photos show the spikes to be way off-center and slanted. So, my theory is that the fridge’s compressor kicked in just at the point where the water was starting to freeze up. This would kick/jolt/slosh the water enough to raise a tiny wave, part of which freezes in place on top of a floating ice. Initially, this would only cause a slightly raised area, but as the vibrations continue, more water would slosh over the tiny nub that was formed previously, with some of it freezing to the nub, thus gradually increasing it until a spike is formed. Sublimation? Yeah, maybe. I don’t know enough about it to really have an opinion as to whether it could cause the spikes, or not. Seems like, if the ice is sublimating, none of it would be of a sufficiently different temperature to cause the vapor to coalesce. But, that’s just my take. Sublimation _does_ account for the shrinkage **Tarkin** mentioned. If you leave ice in a frost free freezer long enough, it will completely disappear. Hmm. Dish shaped with a spike in it? Could it be due to the relative purity of the water? Perhaps really pure ice melts slower than ice that contains minerals, and such? I don’t know how the spike would be formed out of purer water, but fluid dynamics are way over my head. But, this really sounds like a Cecil question, to me. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wierd-ice-cubes/162095/11 "2003-03-18T08:56:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Davebear \* > **Interesting. I’ve only seen that once, before, and I don’t have that fridge, any more. But, I have doubts about Mangetout’s theory (No offence, dude), because the photos show the spikes to be way off-center and slanted.** No offence taken; I have to admit that the ones with the off-centre leaning spikes are different from what I had seen before and what I thought I was explaining (I had previously only seen the ‘satellite dish’ type); these leaning ones look more like they have been built around a single long crystal. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wierd-ice-cubes/162095/12 "2003-03-18T09:04:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Davebear \* > \*\*So, my theory is that the fridge’s compressor kicked in just at the point where the water was starting to freeze up. This would kick/jolt/slosh the water enough to raise a tiny wave, part of which freezes in place on top of a floating ice. Initially, this would only cause a slightly raised area, but as the vibrations continue, more water would slosh over the tiny nub that was formed previously, with some of it freezing to the nub, thus gradually increasing it until a spike is formed. \*\* You may be on to something there; I once saw a demonstration where a long very flexible rod was subjected to rapid vertical vibration; immediately it became rigid and behaved like an upside-down pendulum - the uppermost part returning \*\*_upwards_ to a vertical position after being pushed to the side. A bit of a stretch to extend this to the behaviour of water, but there might be a link; it might even be that the vibration prevents the water from gradually freezing, then it reaches a temperature where it all freezes solid very rapidly indeed (in which case all kinds of strange things could occur - including possibly water freezing in mid-squirt. I’d like to see an experiment where we place some water on a rapidly vibrating platform and leave it to freeze (I may have to do this one myself). ---
**Author:** ![bbeaty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c0e974/32.png) [@bbeaty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbeaty)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wierd-ice-cubes/162095/13 "2003-03-19T04:47:16Z")
I recently created some ice-spikes accidentally. I did NOT have to turn the fridge off and let it warm up first. (That’s the usual way of doing it.) I wanted some ice cubes fast, so rather than filling an entire plastic cube-tray with water, I filled only every third cell in the ice-cube tray. Stuck it in the freezer. It grew an ice spike! Perhaps the nearness of warm neighboring water cells normally inhibits the spike-forming mechanism? Maybe if we try freezing a single ice cube rather than a whole tray of 'em, then spike-formation will be more frequent? ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wierd-ice-cubes/162095/14 "2003-03-19T06:52:05Z")
An experiment: 1)Put hot water in ice tray. 2)Build a little rectangular gladwrap (is it Sarin wrap in the US?- ldpe anyway) tent over the tray. 20 mm high with several verticle posts around the edge to hold the plastic film up. This will act as an insulator. 3)Put tray directly onto cold surface in freezer - need to draw heat rapidly from base. 4)Wait and observe for Spikecicles Comeon QED 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wierd-ice-cubes/162095/15 "2003-03-19T06:54:13Z")
You rang? 😃 [sub]Sorry, couldn’t resist\*\*