Solids' Reaction to Heating & Cooling

[Emily Nguyen 3L]

Hi!

This is somewhat unrelated to the main topic we're on, but Lavelle said that solids contract when cooled in today's lecture, but is there an exception for certain liquids? Because I know that water bottles and soda cans explode when put in freezing temperatures, so what is the reasoning behind this phenomenon?

[Sydney Ngao 3I]

This is interesting! I don't know the answer, but maybe it could possibly have something to do with the pressure of the bottle/can?

[Alexander Moroz 1B]

Bottles and cans react this way because the pressure inside the container is different from the pressure outside the container. In order to equalize pressures and find equilibrium, containers are forced to explode/open.

[Lawrence Tran 2H]

Adding on to the other answers, the pressure inside the can increases because unlike most liquids, water expands when it freezes, which puts pressure on the container walls. Water expands because the structure of water ice is less dense (the molecules are more loosely packed) than in liquid water.