Why do pipes sometimes burst in winter?
Cold water pipes may burst in winter when the outside temperature falls below 0° Centigrade (32° Fahrenheit) and the water turns to ice. The pipe’s walls crack to relieve the pressure caused by the fact that ice requires nearly one-tenth more space than the water. One cubic foot of water makes 1.09 cubic feet of ice. To prevent a freeze-up, a heat insulator is wrapped round pipes.
Water has very unusual properties. Apart from expanding when frozen, it requires more heat to warm it than any other common substance. In other words it has a high specific heat. In nature there are some obvious advantages in these peculiarities. The expansion of ice causes the breaking up of clods of water-filled soil on cold winter nights to leave a fine tilth admirably suited to spring sowing. Water’s high specific heat means that the sea takes longer to warm up than the land and longer to cool down. Thus the sea acts to prevent extreme changes in temperature between seasons.
Comments
Post a Comment