Question

Most liquids, when cooled, will solidify and contract (decrease in volume). Water, on the other hand, actually expands when it freezes into ice. The volume of water will increase by about 9% when it freezes. Suppose you have 455 mL of liquid water in a 500 mL bottle and you put it in the freezer. Will the volume of the bottle be large enough to accommodate the expansion of the freezing water

Answer 1

A 500 mL bottle will be large enough to hold 455 mL of water when it freezes, resulting in an increased volume to approximately 496 mL. Freezing water's expansion can cause significant forces that may damage containers and biological cells.

Step-by-step explanation:

When water freezes, it expands by about 9%. If you have 455 mL of liquid water, upon freezing, the volume would increase to approximately 496 mL (455 mL + 9% of 455 mL). Given that the bottle has a capacity of 500 mL, it will be large enough to accommodate the expansion of the freezing water, which would occupy about 496 mL of space after freezing.

Since freezing water expands significantly, it can exert large forces on containers, which can lead to damage such as cracking engine blocks or fracturing rocks. The same principle applies to biological implications, where freezing can burst cells due to ice crystal formation and expansion, which is a major concern in cryopreservation of biological tissues.