Ice Is Not Just Frozen H2O

By Tony E Winn

Pure clear ice may sound easy to achieve but in reality nature (as always) has the advantage here.

Have you ever wondered why the ice from your freezer is cloudy in the middle?

Apart from not looking that great,when placed in drinks the ice dissolves at a given pace too!

To understand how to achieve crystal clear ice we need to understand how 'mother nature' does it. In the lakes of parts of Canada, they freeze crystal clear... How?

The ice tray in your freezer freezes from the outside in, whereas the ice in the lakes freeze directionally (From one side in).

Why does that matter? Well the cloudy ice you might get in homemade ice is due to impurities and more importantly trapped air in the central core. (Remember that as the ice freezes in the tray outward in.. the trapped air in the water has nowhere to go). Basically the air/impurities get trapped in the center.

In these lakes, the sub-zero temperatures attack the lakes surface from the top so that the water freezes from the top down. (Directional freezing). This is also assisted by the under current water flow moving so that the freezing process is delayed in the lower levels, resulting in a "Slower freezing process".

Stalactites are another example of this slow freezing process.

Some ideas suggest boiling and the cooling water a few times prior to freezing but there are divided scientific opinions on how effective this is as water exposed to air will absorb atmospheric air in any event if exposed.

If we could insulate a container so that the water contained within froze from the top down (as lakes) and if we could create a water flow lower in this container (again similar to the way lakes would freeze) surely we would have clear ice?

Well this might be true but then the temperature would need to be such that the directional freezing didn't happen too quickly.We would need to give the air a "Way Out"

Crystal clear ice can be sculptured into many wonderful forms, but the beauty really lies in its temporary nature.

Pure water with minimal impurities,frozen directionally allowing trapped air a place to escape or removed before the cultivated ice block is removed should result in a crystal clear beautiful ice block. As lovely as many diamonds.

The only problem is ice melts!... But then... Is this not the attraction?

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