Frost Crystals on Juice Cans

February 11, 2009

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Photographer: Mila Zinkova, Mila's Home page
Summary Authors: Mila Zinkova, Jim Foster

One day last month I went to Trader Joe's (my local grocery store) to get some orange juice. No signs were needed to let the buyers know that this product was frozen. Each can came with complimentary hoar crystals.

The needle like, hexagonal ice crystals will continue to accumulate on the cans, with a predisposition to collect on edges or seams, as long as the water vapor in the freezer remains below 0 degrees C (32 F) and the surfaces of the cans are colder than the vapor. In the end, I decided not to buy the juice since I couldn't bring myself to destroy such beautiful crystals.