Stupid question

[1948berg]

Is the cold weather some sort of energy, or is it the opposite? Could we save the cold and use in the summer (like the old ice cabinets)
Freezing water cracks any pipe no matter how strong it is, it must be energy?
As I said, stupid question when everybody talks about global warming, but I could not help thinking it.

 

[Egon]

It is energy but the problem lies in taking it to a higher state.

 

[Gatorboy]

Freezing water cracks any pipe no matter how strong it is, it must be energy?

Water expands when it freezes

 

[Podunkadunk]

Is the cold weather some sort of energy, or is it the opposite? Could we save the cold and use in the summer (like the old ice cabinets)
Freezing water cracks any pipe no matter how strong it is, it must be energy?
As I said, stupid question when everybody talks about global warming, but I could not help thinking it.

Not stupid at all!
-Energy is "the capacity of a physical system to do work".
-Work is the literal process of transferring energy, or simply put Work=Force x Distance.
-Power is Work/Time.
-Potential Energy=Energy Stored in an object.
-Kinetic Energy=Energy in motion.
-Temperature=Average relative molecular kinetic energy of a substance.

Simply put:
...Weather get's cold (but it's still a heat energy, because it's above "absolute zero") freezes the water (changes it's state), expansion occurs, busts pipe...

So, without making this a text-book, your answer is YES. The term "cold weather" has the "potential" to do all mentioned, in one sense or another, and in my honest opine, would classify as energy.

As for harnessing it and storing for later consumption...if you solve that one, on an efficient scale and you could buy out Bill Gates. Summer's heat for winter, winter's cool air for release in summer.....there's a concept.

Disclaimer: Although I'm not a physics major, (I'm sure there's someone on TBN who is), I did have to take core classes in the subject as a pre-req for my degree.

 

[1948berg]

Water expands when it freezes

Why?
Where does the energy to krack the pipes come from?

 

[Jimbrown]

Of course it can. It used to be done all the time. Here in US back in the 1920 and 1930 era they used to cut large blocks of ice out of the great lakes when they froze over in the winter and store them in ice houses and then use the ice in the summer. In what were called Ice Boxes. A box you put ice in to keep things coold. I suspect they did and do the same thing in Norway.

 

[Podunkadunk]

Why?
Where does the energy to krack the pipes come from?

It's just a law of physics, kind of like throwing a ball into the air. It's going to come back down, ie...gravity, but you can't see or touch gravity. Unlike most other laws of physics which state an object expands when heated, water does not, it expands when freezing. When the water is in an enclosed area and freezes, it has to go somewhere. The physical expansion of its molecular structure applies pressure to the pipe. It'll bust at it's weakest point, unless it has a relief valve or some sort. If you didn't have anti-freeze and/or a freeze plug in your engine's block, it would do the same thing, so long as it is a water cooled engine.

Water can't becompressed either.

 

[k6dyc]

Why? Where does the energy to krack the pipes come from?

There was a great story on water and ice on Modern Marvels (I think) a few months ago. If I recall correctly, it has to do with the fact as a liquid, the molecules pass one another and exchange Hydrogen and Oxygen, but keep a relatively close contact between molecules. As they approach freezing, the molecules form crystaline structures that trap space between them and result in a larger volume.

 

[texbaylea]

Cold is, very simply put, a lower energy state than hot down to "absolute zero". We are fortunate that water's maximum density is about 4*C above freezing then expands below that until it freezes. This why ice floats. Without this property, all lakes above a certain latitude would freeze solid in the winter and only a top layer would thaw during the hot seasons. The Great Lakes would be frozen to the bottom.

Vernon

P.S. Surely I am not TBN's only resident physicist.

 

[turnkey4099]

<snip>

If you didn't have anti-freeze and/or a freeze plug in your engine's block, it would do the same thing, so long as it is a water cooled engine.

Water can't becompressed either.

Not an urban legend as such but...

Those are not 'freeze plugs', they are 'soft plugs' used to close up the holes in the casting to let sand out after casting is finished. An engine block will freeze and crack even with them.

Harry K