Why do drinks in the freezer expand?

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I looked it up but I still don’t understand, if the cells in liquid are jiggling around, shouldn’t they need to condense to become a solid? Like how if you have a bunch of packing peanuts, if you shake the box, they’ll move around a lot, whereas, if you squish them down into a block, they’ll condense, and not move. Sorry that’s the best analogy I could think of I just don’t get it.

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Water is interesting in that it does contract as it cools, but only to a certain temperature. When it freezes, it rearranges into a crystal pattern, which means it takes up a bit more space. Imagine a piece of flatpack furniture assembled into a bookshelf or what have you. Water’s freezing is just that happening. That’s also why ice floats on liquid water– it’s less dense thanks to its crystalline structure.

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