I once built an ice bomb. I took a 10 inch steel pipe, filled it with water, and capped and sealed both ends. I put it in the freezer, and a few hours later...BOOM. Pipe destroyed, freezer damaged. So I asked myself a question: What is the maximum force that freezing water can exert as it expands? What if I tried it with steel chamber where the walls have various thickness. What if the walls were one inch thick? One foot thick? Is there a limit???

 

Steve-O

The energy exerted by freezing water is very strong, but not at all explosive. It is released very slowly. Freezing water can lift 10,000 tons, but can't propell even a pebble into the air. It simply expands to slow.

Interesting thought though.

what if the pipe around the ice expanded slower than the water, and absorbed the energy until it explosively released the energy

 

I don't really know if a material exists that could do that, but if anyone else knows...

potentially explosive, yes. WMD? well, that's a different though altogether... there are limits, size being the most important. how feasible is it to make a 20 foot by 20 foot by 20 foot box of 6 inch steel and fill it with water? let alone freeze it...

 

what about other chemicals besides water that have potential as the temperature decreases?

 

very interesting idea

what if the pipe around the ice expanded slower than the water' date=' and absorbed the energy until it explosively released the energy

 

I don't really know if a material exists that could do that, but if anyone else knows...[/quote']

I guess that would work. But It would take hours to detonate, even in the frozen tundras of Siberia and the like.

WMD's if the you go to iraq, sorry couldnt help my self.

 

Anywy, the water will expand slowly, but it remains water for longer.

Due to the pressure.

far more dangerous than the explosion itself would simply be the shrapnel. say, cover the outer covering of the pipe bomb with 8 inch bolts and you have yourself a weapon... but it would only be damaging to personnel in very cold climate regions, aka a very ghetto grenade. however, if you wanted to damage property (like a freezer?) you could just stick the bomb and hope it does some damage.

 

the uses of such a bomb are very limited...

 

what about a construction such that there is an inner pipe filled with water surrounding chemicals that react to create deep cold? I forget the name of the chemicals that are now replacing freon, but it could have some potential...

Many exploseive gasses (such as propane) can be used as refrigerants. These also have the added effect of being highly combustible when diffused in air - meaning that you could freeze bomb something and then flash burn it. Very effective, if it were ever practical.

How do you determine how "strong" something is when it freezes? If the pressure was great enough, could you stop it from freezing?

yeah, the freeze bomb idea with propane surrounding the water would be effective, if gunpowder or c4 didn't do the job a lot better...

 

but surely there must be some effectiveu use for the strong economical power of freezing water. perhaps it could be used in hydraulics systems or even as an alternative source for energy? could freezing water realistically power turbines in say alaska? given you would need tons upon tons of water but hey, it's cheap...

If the pressure was great enough, could you stop it from freezing?

 

No, it would still freeze, but you`de get a different crystal structure to the ice.

 

here, take a peek: http://www.cmmp.ucl.ac.uk/people/finney/soi.html

ah that site was a wee bit too complicated for my puny mind. the diagrams looked pretty though...

what if the pipe around the ice expanded slower than the water' date=' and absorbed the energy until it explosively released the energy

[/quote']

 

Something elastic ?

What about a very strong material that shrinks as the water freezes? make it thick enough and the energy released would be far greater...