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What do you think happens to the air in the collid when ice cream melts ?

User Zcadqe
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1 Answer

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The air escapes into the atmosphere.

An emulsion is a colloidal dispersion of one liquid in another liquid in which it does not dissolve.

Ice cream is essentially an emulsion of the fat in milk with a sugar solution trapped in a network of small ice crystals. Other chemicals are added to prevent the emulsion from separating, and air bubbles are mixed into the semisolid mixture.

Up to 50 % of the volume of ice cream can be air.

When the ice cream melts, the air bubbles are no longer trapped. They just escape into the atmosphere.

If you re-freeze the melted ice cream, its volume will be much less than the original.

User Jozenbasin
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