How quickly does a one gallon jug of water freeze in a chest freezer? Plugged in new freezer yesterday a.m., put in 4 one gallon jugs after compressor stopped running for kids' experiment. Centers are still liquid. Science or a defective freezer?
by 
mryhrtsong
ANSWERS: 2
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It depends on both the temperature your freezer is set to, as well as the temperature of the things you are placing in them. Obviously a warm gallon of water takes longer to freeze than a cold gallon of water. Also, the water would freeze faster if they were frozen individually, than simultaneously. And last, whether the cap on the jugs is on is also a factor.
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1. Compressors are often on timers to prevent overheating. They will stop running even before the refrigerator is cold, wait for the timer to run out and restart. 2. The majority of energy that goes into freezing water is not bringing the temp to 32 degrees, but rather in the phase transition from liquid to solid. 3. Because water expands as it freezes and milk jugs freeze from the outside in you create a shell of inflexible ice around a core of liquid water. This makes it difficult for the water at the center to freeze as it has no room to expand. For this reason it will be possible to have water at the center of the jug below freezing. It may take a while before the force is strong enough to break the ice shell and bulge the jug so that the remaining water can freeze
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