weather

Science/magic

It’s been cold lately, really cold. Near- or below-freezing temperatures have gone uninterrupted for several days to weeks. We’ve had single-digit stretches leading to massive electric bills causing communitywide panic. We even had to endure an entire week out of school thanks to icy roads. I was sick at the same time, so that was a really great week. It’s been a cold winter overall. Seems like the 50-degree days have been scarce.

On a recent very cold morning when I got into my car to head to work, I looked down to the console and saw my water bottle — a plastic Smart Water bottle I refill as needed — and was surprised to see that it had not frozen overnight. The temperature outside that morning was 29 degrees. But the water in the bottle was as clear and liquefied as ever. So I opened the cap, intending to take a sip, and watched as in the span of about five seconds I was treated to some science that felt like magic in my hand.

The water inside the bottle, as soon as I removed the cap, began freezing from the top down, right in my hand. The ice curled down the sides of the bottle in little spirals of frost, spreading downward and inward until I was left with a bottle holding a tiny iceberg, some unfrozen water left trapped around the sides.

I’d never seen anything like that before, much less held it while it happened.

Move over, Elsa.