Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Grandma cleans out the fridge

Heymatt:

I've always wondered how come liquor doesn't freeze in the freezer, how come?

- Drunk and confused in Santee

Sponsored
Sponsored

Matt:

I'm only eight, but I've noticed that ice cubes have little peaks in them. They're not flat like a hockey rink.

-- Bobby, El Cajon

Heymatt:

How does the crisper in my refrigerator work? Magic?

-- Jay, out there

This week at the Alice household was our semi-annual Get Rid of the Fuzzy Stuff festival, which involves Grandma and various conscripts crawling through the fridge, sorting the edible from the throwable. Pa Alice always volunteers to do the freezer and takes a fifth of tequila with him. It's probably never occurred to him that tequila will freeze. Any alcohol will, but not at the temps generated by your average Kenmore side-by-side with in-door water dispenser.

Booze, aluminum, neon, practically anything you have hanging around your house will freeze if the temp gets low enough. Basically, reducing the temperature slows molecular motion in the substance, and depending on the structure and binding forces of the molecules, you'll eventually get some kind of looser or tighter bond between them. Water is a pushover. It's a simple substance made of hydrogen and oxygen atoms all sailing around at speeds determined in part by their temperature, slower if they're cold. At some temp below 32 degrees F. the molecular motion is slow enough to allow the attractive forces between one molecule's positively charged hydrogen atom to catch the eye of another molecule's negatively charged oxygen atoms and they stick together in the form of a predictable latticework solid. Once most or all of the atoms are stuck together, the unmated electrons clinging cozily to the oxygen, you have ice.

You might get peaky ice in an ice tray because water is one of only a few substances that can expand in volume when it freezes. The lattice ice structure created by the hydrogen bonds has slightly more space in it than do the same number of water molecules on the loose. Since water in an ice tray will freeze from the edge to the center, the "extra" ice commonly forms a lump there.

But what about Pa's tequila? It will freeze at some temperature higher than pure ethanol (the drinking form of alcohol). Ethanol will freeze -202 degrees F. Alcohol resists what water falls for so easily in part because of the carbon content of alcohol. There is an oxygen-hydrogen component in alcohols, but they also have various forms of carbon molecules, and O and H have little or no interest in sticking to them. Alcohol is more volatile and contains more energy than water, making it hard to slow it down and get its attention long enough to get it to solidify. Alcohol doesn't have many built-in atomic attractants like water's ionized hydrogen and oxygen.

Grandma's least favorite clean-up is the vegetable crisper drawers. The elves have found them to be the perfect place to curl up for an afternoon nap when it's just too hot outside. You might think of your magic crisper in these terms. Once upon a time, it was too cold outside, so man built a house. Then it was too hot in the house to store his food, so he invented the refrigerator. Then he realized the air in the refrigerator was too dry to store his green vegetables, so he invented the crisper. I'm sure you've noticed that bread, cheese, and unprotected veggies turn crusty or limp if left on a regular fridge shelf. Crisper drawers protect foods from the constantly circulating dry, cold air in the fridge. Crispers aren't much magic, but because they're slightly damp, they're a particularly good place to find those fuzzy to near liquefied throw-outables.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Codename Stasis found its format at SDSU

Local zine tells a magical local story

Heymatt:

I've always wondered how come liquor doesn't freeze in the freezer, how come?

- Drunk and confused in Santee

Sponsored
Sponsored

Matt:

I'm only eight, but I've noticed that ice cubes have little peaks in them. They're not flat like a hockey rink.

-- Bobby, El Cajon

Heymatt:

How does the crisper in my refrigerator work? Magic?

-- Jay, out there

This week at the Alice household was our semi-annual Get Rid of the Fuzzy Stuff festival, which involves Grandma and various conscripts crawling through the fridge, sorting the edible from the throwable. Pa Alice always volunteers to do the freezer and takes a fifth of tequila with him. It's probably never occurred to him that tequila will freeze. Any alcohol will, but not at the temps generated by your average Kenmore side-by-side with in-door water dispenser.

Booze, aluminum, neon, practically anything you have hanging around your house will freeze if the temp gets low enough. Basically, reducing the temperature slows molecular motion in the substance, and depending on the structure and binding forces of the molecules, you'll eventually get some kind of looser or tighter bond between them. Water is a pushover. It's a simple substance made of hydrogen and oxygen atoms all sailing around at speeds determined in part by their temperature, slower if they're cold. At some temp below 32 degrees F. the molecular motion is slow enough to allow the attractive forces between one molecule's positively charged hydrogen atom to catch the eye of another molecule's negatively charged oxygen atoms and they stick together in the form of a predictable latticework solid. Once most or all of the atoms are stuck together, the unmated electrons clinging cozily to the oxygen, you have ice.

You might get peaky ice in an ice tray because water is one of only a few substances that can expand in volume when it freezes. The lattice ice structure created by the hydrogen bonds has slightly more space in it than do the same number of water molecules on the loose. Since water in an ice tray will freeze from the edge to the center, the "extra" ice commonly forms a lump there.

But what about Pa's tequila? It will freeze at some temperature higher than pure ethanol (the drinking form of alcohol). Ethanol will freeze -202 degrees F. Alcohol resists what water falls for so easily in part because of the carbon content of alcohol. There is an oxygen-hydrogen component in alcohols, but they also have various forms of carbon molecules, and O and H have little or no interest in sticking to them. Alcohol is more volatile and contains more energy than water, making it hard to slow it down and get its attention long enough to get it to solidify. Alcohol doesn't have many built-in atomic attractants like water's ionized hydrogen and oxygen.

Grandma's least favorite clean-up is the vegetable crisper drawers. The elves have found them to be the perfect place to curl up for an afternoon nap when it's just too hot outside. You might think of your magic crisper in these terms. Once upon a time, it was too cold outside, so man built a house. Then it was too hot in the house to store his food, so he invented the refrigerator. Then he realized the air in the refrigerator was too dry to store his green vegetables, so he invented the crisper. I'm sure you've noticed that bread, cheese, and unprotected veggies turn crusty or limp if left on a regular fridge shelf. Crisper drawers protect foods from the constantly circulating dry, cold air in the fridge. Crispers aren't much magic, but because they're slightly damp, they're a particularly good place to find those fuzzy to near liquefied throw-outables.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Three poems by Oso Guardiola

Conversation in the Cathedral, Schism, Runoff
Next Article

Mama G brings saucy Peruvian flavors—and geography—to Mission Valley

Steaky pasta, yucca fries, ceviche, and more than one way to skin a potato
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader