4Final answer:
As ice wedges form due to re-freezing, thermal stress affects various materials and structures, leading to potential damage and environmental changes.
Step-by-step explanation:
At the same time as the re-freezing crack or soon-to-be ice wedge, there are a variety of physical phenomena happening as a result of thermal stress and temperature changes.
These include the buckling of roadways without sufficient expansion joints, the sagging and snapping of power lines, the opening and closing of cracks in plaster walls, cracks in cooking pans caused by uneven cooling, and the threat posed to nuclear reactor pressure vessels due to rapid cooling. In the environment, biological cells in food suffer damage when frozen and impacted by repeated thawing and freezing cycles, and the thermal expansion of seawater contributes to rising sea levels due to global warming.