Basically the title: If I leave the freezer door slightly open it seems to be “more frozen” than before – big chunks of ice on everything, stuff frozen together. Why is that? The food can go bad in this state but it LOOKS colder (I know this is stupid). In my mind it should just melt and warm up 🤷🏻♀️
In: Physics
After you close the door, the cooling will have kicked up to try to compensate for the heat that has come in. Sometimes this can temporarily spike the cold in your freezer or refrigerator, and in the case of the refrigerator you will notice some items near the vents frozen because they are near the source of cold.
Because it has to work harder its access to air also means it will freeze the water molecules within air
There are 2 parts to this:
1. You let in moisture by leaving the door open, which then freezes to everything, giving the appearance of being colder
2. more uneven temps. With the door open, the cooling elements will work constantly, meaning the first things they reach will be kept colder, while the stuff near the opening will likely be somewhat warmer.
1) Water can naturally vaporize in air in certain quantities, depending on temperature. More precisely, hot air can accept more water in it.
2) When you open the door, you let new “hot” air enter. This hot air, comming from your kitchen, contains a fair amount of water vapor.
3) When you close the door, you basically tell the air : “ok now you’re stuck there, and you will cool down”.
4) Air becomes cold, so it is able to contain less water vapor. This water has nothing else to do than leave the air, which means to regroup to form tiny drops. Those are the drops you see at the back of the refregirator.
If it’s a freezer, those drop… (You guessed it, they freeze), and if you let them build up they become a pain in the ass to remove.
5) If you leave it slighly open, you may create a slow air flow. The cold freezer air goes out via the bottom, sucking in hot air from above. The same phenomenon occurs, continuously.
A tidbit I didn’t see anyone explain, is that cold air holds very little moisture, so normally the inside of the freezer would be essentially dry, any moisture that was in there having frozen at some point.
Then, when you let warm air in, there’s a whole new load of moisture that gets to freeze, therefore more ice.
(This next bit is more of an assumption)
While it’s open, the freezer is still trying to run, so ice may form as the air gets cold, then the cold air gets replaced by warmer air, and it just kinda continues until the freezer cant keep up anymore.
Water does not freeze instantly. And ice can be a good insulator. When you put something in the freezer the temperature goes down to almost 0 quickly but then stays there for a long time until it is frozen solid and the drops below 0.
Also if you put a large roast in the freezer it then can warm everything else in there until it is solid and then cool further down.
Fun fact, the way you just assumed it was colder just because there was more ice (frozen water) in it, is exactly the same reason for sodium lauryl sulfates in things like toothpaste and soaps. The bubbles that form make the everyday person think it’s working better, when in fact it might even be working less effectively.
You’ve allowed water vapour to enter, it turns to ice when heat is extracted from it. Ice not only indicates low temperatures, but the presence of water.
A freezer getting colder will not create any more ice. If it’s below freezing already, all the water vapour will be ice.
The humidity in the air is what makes frost on things, the more air leaking in, the more frost condenses from the moisture in that air, up to the point where the freezer can no longer keep the temperature below freezing.
You’re definitely making the freezer work harder and introducing warm spots, and if it’s running continuously, then it’s also leaking enough to be warmer overall than it’s supposed to be.
Humidity in the air means condensation forms on all the cold surfaces, which then freezes into frost.
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