Eli5: How does water expand in a closed container? Shouldn’t it shrink and be compact as it forms into a solid which has tighter molecules?

Question

Context: I was trying to figure out why my coke glass bottle exploded in my freezer.

Update: As it turns out, water is a weird one amongst other liquids.

In: 3

Answer 1

Molecules in a liquid are moving, molecules in a solid are stationary. For a water molecule, it’s hydrogen loves it’s oxygen, but it also has a past of cheating so it also really is attracted to other water molecules oxygen. Since it can move (as a liquid) it’s constantly getting closer than it should to other molecules oxygens (think of like a rubber band, it can stretch out to get near other oxygens but will be retracted back like a rubber band). Once it becomes a solid, it can no longer move and can’t get closer than it normally should to other oxygens, and the rubber band is no longer being stretched