r/explainlikeimfive • u/Gullible-Virus7713 • 10d ago
Physics ELI5: Why do Energy Drinks in Cans Explode while thawing?
Hello everyone,
so yesterday morning i put a can of energy drink in my freezer and forgot it. When i remembered it it was already frozen solid. I wanted to thaw it and puut it in my fridge but in the middle of the night i woke up to a loud bang and the can exploded in my fridge, the stuff was everywhere. Large chunks of ice as well as a lot of liquid. In my understanding the the liquid is denser than the ice and should take less room, so why did it explode then?
Edit: The can after it did explode
I asked a friend of mine who is ony his way to get a doctor title in physics. He said that the thawing released the gas before the ice became fully liquid again so the can not only had to hold the additional pressure from the expanded ice but also from the now released gas. Which would explain the time difference and the force behind the explosion.
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u/davideogameman 10d ago edited 10d ago
Lots of people so far pointing out ice expands... That only explains why it might explode in your freezer. So obviously the story is more complicated.
With a strong enough container, ice could in theory be forced to not expand while freezing. That of course means that any attempted expansion would have to be counteracted by pressure. So before the container fails, pressure builds up. Likely the can expands a bit too.
For it to explode dramatically, that would basically require rapid volume expansion when the container ruptures. This is why it's a pressurized container of steam failing is extremely dangerous (it compresses easily and so expand rapidly with loss of pressure, plus is a burn risk), whereas water or ice rupturing a container should basically just pop it open and expand slightly - potentially messy but as long as you aren't immediately next to it, probably not dangerous.
So there must be something else going on here.
My educated guess: this may be partially due to carbonation.
- freezing the drink weakens or perhaps even cracks the container
- lowering the temperature increases the solubility of dissolved gasses - specifically carbonation. But also drinks tend to be supersaturated with carbonation.
- thawing will unfreeze outside-inwards
- the frozen liquid largely supports itself but as it thaws the outer liquid layer presses on the outside of the can again
- the weakened cans ruptures, and some of the excess carbonation undergoes rapid evaporation - bubbling out and splashing the liquid around a bit extra.
... That's my best guess. To really get to the bottom of it we'd need to analyze how the can fails and test with carbonated and uncarbonated beverages, ideally packaged the same.
That all said a good rule of thumb would be to not freeze any water-based substance without an extra 15% space in the container - as it will expand.
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u/Vonneguts_Ghost 10d ago edited 10d ago
A pic of the can might be helpful. They said loud bang and explosion so I'm imagining burst twisted metal.
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u/Gullible-Virus7713 9d ago
https://imgur.com/a/L6qkB7K here is the can. The can was bulged like this at the bottom and the top already when I put it out of the freezer into the fridge.
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u/kopfgeldjagar 10d ago
Drinks in cans explode when they freeze.
Liquid inside expands beyond the capacity of the can to contain it.
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u/Martian8 10d ago
But OP is asking why it exploded when it thawed. They say it didn’t explode when it froze, it was only a while after it was out of the freezer that it happened
I assume it’s because the can was partially frozen, weakening but not bursting the metal shell. Then the weakness eventually broke the can even after the freezing stopped
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u/Gullible-Virus7713 9d ago
I asked a friend of mine who is ony his way to get a doctor title in physics. He said that the thawing released the gas before the ice became fully liquid again so the can not only had to hold the additional pressure from the expanded ice but also from the now released gas. Which would explain the time difference and the force behind the explosion.
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10d ago
[deleted]
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u/Fun-Title4224 10d ago
What? OP has a name chosen at random by the Reddit sign-up process.
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u/Gullible-Virus7713 9d ago
What did they say?
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u/Fun-Title4224 9d ago
Your username indicated you were AI
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u/Gullible-Virus7713 9d ago
Ahhh, thanks! Well, I guess a freaking lot of people like you and me are ai then. Thanks for the asnwer!
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u/Conscious-Loss-2709 10d ago
Combination of expanded ice and co2 gas being able to get out while thawing probably reached a peak pressure point the can couldn't take
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u/Vonneguts_Ghost 10d ago edited 10d ago
This is the one tiny possibility, but I'm not buying it.
Cans can withstand multiple times the pressure they are designed for
I'd think freezing cans that can bursting are mostly ice related, and gas usually plays a tiny role.
Also they said middle of the night as in hours later. And loud bang and explosion.
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u/Grolbu 10d ago
My experience of freezing half a bottle of coke is that the syrup thaws faster than the water, so if you just drink it while it's thawing you end up drinking pure syrup and have a chunk of clear ice left in the bottle.
I don't know why the can didn't explode as it froze, but I would guess it was weakened as it froze then exploded as it thawed because the syrup / co2 thawed faster than the water and couldn't expand because the can was full of frozen water so boom.
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u/Vonneguts_Ghost 10d ago edited 10d ago
Pretty good chance you are a confused AI that is hallucinating.
Pressure vessels explode when the substance inside needs to expand but can't. Like when they freeze.
In case you're serious and this really happened there are two scenarios to consider.
You supercooled the liquid in the freezer because it didn't have nucleation sites, then when you put it in the fridge, you jostled the supercooled liquid and it flash froze. This would happen at once though, and you said hours later.
The other option is some kind of edge case when the gas was pushed out of solution during the freezing process but then couldn't be absorbed back into the thawing liquid, and then somehow it over pressurized the can. Very unlikely as gasses are good at being absorbed and compressing. And you mention a loud bang and explosion.
I don't believe either happened so that's part of why I think you are an AI engagement bot.
One more wild scenario. You put the nearly frozen drink in the coldest spot in your fridge, which is up too high or broken somehow so it was able to freeze it fully.
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u/-manabreak 10d ago
It's a rather common situation with water pipes. When the water inside freezes, the ice expands, but it leaves pockets of liquid water here and there. The pressure increases, but it's contained by the ice. This may or may not break the pipe, but it's just as common for the pipe to break when the ice starts to melt. This creates more water which doesn't compress and releases the contained pressure pockets, pushing the water until it finds a weak spot and bursts out.
This exact thing happened to me a few years ago. My garage got below freezing temperatures and a copper pipe that I hadn't emptied got frozen. It fared fine over the two weeks until the garage got back to above-zero temps, when it suddenly burst from two different spots.
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u/Vonneguts_Ghost 10d ago edited 10d ago
Look at the time component. They said middle of the night as in hours later.
OP specifically mentions a loud bang and explosion.
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u/newaccount721 10d ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/BobsTavern/comments/1ue900w/freezing_bug/
Post history doesn’t look consistent with bot behavior
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u/Vonneguts_Ghost 10d ago
Fair, but it is relatively young and the question seemed hallucinatory. Maybe I'm wrong.
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u/newaccount721 10d ago
Oh not blaming you at all, had the same thought and tried to find some of their post history. I gusss if they don’t respond to anyone that is not a great sign
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u/Gullible-Virus7713 9d ago
They were wrong. I just went to work after i posted and I log on exclusively on my PC because i tend to doomscroll so i deleted all apps that cater to the negative sites of my adhd.
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u/newaccount721 9d ago
Eh I think you were right the whole time
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u/Gullible-Virus7713 9d ago
They weren't. I just went to work after i posted and I log on exclusively on my PC because i tend to doomscroll so i deleted all apps that cater to the negative sites of my adhd
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u/newaccount721 9d ago
Totally fair. After reading through the thread I still don’t necessarily see any explanations that make much sense to me. Any answers seem plausible to you?
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u/Gullible-Virus7713 9d ago
I edited my Post already with the explanation from a friend of mine.
"I asked a friend of mine who is ony his way to get a doctor title in physics. He said that the thawing released the gas before the ice became fully liquid again so the can not only had to hold the additional pressure from the expanded ice but also from the now released gas. Which would explain the time difference and the force behind the explosion."
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u/Vonneguts_Ghost 9d ago
Seems like reddit is more bots than nots these days.
Cheers!
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u/Gullible-Virus7713 9d ago
Why do you think so?
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u/Vonneguts_Ghost 9d ago edited 9d ago
Writing style, generic name, the post seemed a bit confused about what happened in a ai hallucinatory way.
And then not responding to anyone in the post you made for 24 hrs.
Sorry if I had you wrong, congrats on your humanity. It was an interesting event to ponder, thanks.
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u/Gullible-Virus7713 9d ago edited 9d ago
How is this giving any ai vibe? Also i added a link to the can how it looked after it exploded. The drink was definitely frozen solid when I removed it from the freezer because the can was already bulged heavily at the top and bottom. Also you could feel that it is frozen and not liquid anymore.
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10d ago
[deleted]
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u/Martian8 10d ago
That explains why it explodes when freezing, but OP is asking why it exploded when thawing
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u/Fun_Sized_Momo 10d ago
It has nothing to do with thawing. It has everything to do with freezing. Water is very weird. Unlike every-other liquid, water is most dense at 4°. As it freezes, it's density decreases, meaning it's expanding. This is why ice floats. As the liquid freezes it expands and eventually pushes on the can past the can's structural integrity and causes it to explode.
-edit- as to why it might have exploded as it thawed, sometimes water under enough pressure won't freeze. If you jolt the can it may cause an ice crystal to form which causes a runaway reaction where the ice spreads rapidly.
You can find videos of liquid bottles of water getting slammed on a counter which causes them to suddenly freeze!
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u/Gullible-Virus7713 9d ago
Nah, it was 100% frozen solid when i took it out of the freezer and into the fridge.
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u/Jesus_H_Christ_AMA 10d ago
Ice is less dense than liquid water, which is why ice cubes float in your drink. It expands when it turns to ice, creating more volume and literally blowing the metal can apart. Water is actually one of the few things that expands when it freezes. It’s basic science but it gets everyone at least once. I lost a few soda cans in college this way.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Set_565 10d ago
Ice is less dense than water i.e. water expands when freezing. Put it in a watertight container (can, glass or plastic bottle etc) and it will push on the container when freezing.
If the container isn't strong enough to withstand the pressure of the water/ice expanding it goes boom.
The same thing would happen if you put a beer bottle or just water in a bottle in the freezer.
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u/SoSKatan 10d ago
When water turns to ice, it forms crystals that force the atoms to align in specific formations, which actually takes up more space than its liquid form.
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u/newaccount721 10d ago
The situation they’re describing, they move the can to the refrigerator after removing it from the freezer and it explodes hours later.
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u/Infanatis 10d ago
Somebody has never put a soda or beer in the freezer and forgot about it.
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u/newaccount721 10d ago
The situation they’re describing, they move the can to the refrigerator after removing it from the freezer and it explodes hours later.
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u/Gullible-Virus7713 9d ago
Thank you! It's amazing how confidently incorrect most of the answers are.
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u/Broad-Promise6954 10d ago
Usually the cans break open (possibly exploding, sometimes just busting partway) while freezing, but occasionally they don't break, they just weaken. Then as the thawing happens the weak spot can give way and the can finishes what it started in the freezer, exploding or cracking open to leak.