Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Broken Glass Bottles in Freezer- How to avoid? (thermal expansion)

LuckyWinner - 14-10-2020 at 00:42

some various aldehydes were kept in borosilicate brown glass bottles inside a freezer.

they started to solidify over a period of time and caused the bottles to crack,
luckily none drained cause they were frozen.

now to avoid this always fill the bottles max 3/4 full and lay them down on their side
to give the liquid enough room to expand horizontally?

this technique should prevent accidents like this or not?

to refill the aldehydes in broken glass bottles, place them in open air, inside a pyrex dish, and wait for them to de-thaw and liquidize.
then pour pyrex dish inside new bottle 3/4 full and replace inside freezer horizontally until frozen, then it can be placed vertical again.

will this oxygen exposure render the aldehydes useless?
will they oxidize in a couple hours in air at ~10C temperature?

Antigua - 14-10-2020 at 00:48

Are you sure you need to use glass bottles for that? I mean yeah, they're definietly cooler looking, but if some of your aldehydes is compatible with HDPE, then I reccomend that. No problems with cracking! I know it doesn't really answer your question, but that's my opinion.

LuckyWinner - 14-10-2020 at 00:51

Quote: Originally posted by Antigua  
Are you sure you need to use glass bottles for that? I mean yeah, they're definietly cooler looking, but if some of your aldehydes is compatible with HDPE, then I reccomend that. No problems with cracking! I know it doesn't really answer your question, but that's my opinion.


I only have glass bottles available now.
there are no spare HDPE bottles I have.

unionised - 14-10-2020 at 03:41

This does not make sense.

As far as I'm aware, no aldehyde expands on freezing.

If they broke because they were freezing then it would have happened during that process and some material would spill.
The fact that n the material didn't escape shows that the stuff was frozen before the bottles cracked.

B(a)P - 14-10-2020 at 12:54

Quote: Originally posted by LuckyWinner  
some various aldehydes were kept in borosilicate brown glass bottles inside a freezer.

now to avoid this always fill the bottles max 3/4 full and lay them down on their side
to give the liquid enough room to expand horizontally?



Better to leave them vertical incase the lid fails. Also the product will then be expanding into a constant cross sectional area rather than a decreasing one, not sure if this would make much difference though. I made the assumption your bottles are cylindrical.
Which aldehydes in particular did you have stored? This will help answer the other questions.

zed - 18-10-2020 at 02:36

I've had plenty of trouble with jars and bottles breaking when freezing.

One quart, Mason jar with only an inch or two, of water in the bottom, left on the back porch in Winter?

I have had many break. The glass is apparently more fragile when cold. Don't let things freeze in jars.

Never had a problem with things solidifying in jars, at normal temperatures. At least I don't remember such.

I suggest, don't put glass jars in the freezer. What aldehyde needs to be kept at that temperature?

I can't think of one.

TriiodideFrog - 28-10-2020 at 04:43

I can't think of a way to 100% ensure that the bottle will not crack, but you can put the bottle in a plastic bag before putting it into the freezer. This will make clean up much easier.

HydrogenSulphate - 28-10-2020 at 04:53

Quote: Originally posted by zed  
I've had plenty of trouble with jars and bottles breaking when freezing.

One quart, Mason jar with only an inch or two, of water in the bottom, left on the back porch in Winter?

I have had many break. The glass is apparently more fragile when cold. Don't let things freeze in jars.

Never had a problem with things solidifying in jars, at normal temperatures. At least I don't remember such.

I suggest, don't put glass jars in the freezer. What aldehyde needs to be kept at that temperature?

I can't think of one.


What I do know is that benzaldehyde slowly oxidises when exposed to atmospheric oxygen to form benzoic acid over time. Keeping its bottle tightly stoppered and stored at low temperatures significantly minimises the rate of oxidation, but keeping it at below zero degrees C is not necessary.