![Ice cubes openphoto](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Ice_cubes_openphoto.jpg)
An ice cube is a small piece of
ice
Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaq ...
, which is typically
rectangular
In Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is a quadrilateral with four right angles. It can also be defined as: an equiangular quadrilateral, since equiangular means that all of its angles are equal (360°/4 = 90°); or a parallelogram containin ...
as viewed from above and
trapezoid
A quadrilateral with at least one pair of parallel sides is called a trapezoid () in American and Canadian English. In British and other forms of English, it is called a trapezium ().
A trapezoid is necessarily a Convex polygon, convex quadri ...
al as viewed from the side. Ice cubes are products of mechanical
refrigeration
The term refrigeration refers to the process of removing heat from an enclosed space or substance for the purpose of lowering the temperature.International Dictionary of Refrigeration, http://dictionary.iifiir.org/search.phpASHRAE Terminology, ht ...
and are usually produced to cool
beverages
A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoothies a ...
. They may be produced at home in a
freezer
A refrigerator, colloquially fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to its external environment so th ...
with an ice tray or in an automated ice-making accessory. They may also be produced industrially and sold commercially.
Origin of production
![Gorrie Ice Machine](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Gorrie_Ice_Machine.png)
American physician and inventor
John Gorrie
John B. Gorrie (October 3, 1803 – June 29, 1855) was a Nevisian-born American physician and scientist, credited as the inventor of mechanical refrigeration.
Early life
Born on the Island of Nevis in the Leeward Islands of the West Indies t ...
built a refrigerator in 1844 with the purpose of producing ice to cool air. His refrigerator produced ice which hung from the ceiling in a basin to lower the ambient room temperature. During his time,
bad air quality was thought to cause disease. Therefore, in order to help prevent and treat sickness, he pushed for the
draining of swamps and the cooling of sickrooms.
Production
Trays and bags
![Ice cube tray](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Ice_cube_tray.jpg)
Ice cube trays are designed to be filled with
water
Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...
, then placed in a
freezer
A refrigerator, colloquially fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to its external environment so th ...
until the water freezes into
ice
Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaq ...
, producing ice cubes.
Ice trays are often flexible, so the frozen cubes can be easily removed by flexing the tray. "Twist ice trays" have a simple spring-loaded mechanism with a lever that is used to turn the tray upside down and flex at the same time, such that the cubes that drop are collected in a removable tray below. The spring returns the ice cube tray to its upright position without having to remove it from the freezer, which can save time and reduces accidental mess—though the tray has to be removed to be collected, and the ice cube tray still has to be removed to be refilled. An alternative system is an
aluminium
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...
tray with a lever that raises the ice cubes, freeing them from the tray.
A motorized version of this is found in most automatic ice-making freezers.
While the usual shape of the ice cube is roughly
cubical, some ice trays form hemispherical or cylindrical shapes; others produce blocks of ice in seasonal, festive or other shapes. Occasionally,
edible
An edible item is any item that is safe for humans to eat. "Edible" is differentiated from "eatable" because it does not indicate how an item tastes, only whether it is fit to be eaten. Nonpoisonous items found in nature – such as some mushroo ...
items are frozen inside the ice cubes, both at home and commercial production.
Lloyd Groff Copeman
Lloyd Groff Copeman (December 28, 1881 – July 5, 1956) was an American inventor who devised the first electric stove and the flexible rubber ice cube tray, among other products. He had nearly 700 patents to his name, and he claimed that he cou ...
invented a rubber ice tray, after noticing that slush and ice flaked off his rubber boots rather than adhering to them while walking through some woods collecting sap for maple syrup. Recalling this 1928 incident over lunch with his patent attorney, he conducted experiments using rubber cups, which led to practical designs and patents for different types of tray; these included a metal tray with rubber separators, a metal tray with individual rubber cups which was invented in 1933, and a tray made completely of rubber. Guy L. Tinkham, a household product executive, invented the first flexible, stainless steel, all-metal ice cube tray in 1933. The tray bent sideways to remove the ice cubes.
Commercial pre-filled disposable ice trays for home
freezing
Freezing is a phase transition where a liquid turns into a solid when its temperature is lowered below its freezing point. In accordance with the internationally established definition, freezing means the solidification phase change of a liquid o ...
are designed to provide better taste and reduced risk of
contamination
Contamination is the presence of a constituent, impurity, or some other undesirable element that spoils, corrupts, infects, makes unfit, or makes inferior a material, physical body, natural environment, workplace, etc.
Types of contamination
W ...
.
Danish inventor
Erling Vangedal-Nielsen Erling is a Scandinavian male name, meaning "Heir of clanchief", i.e. prince or similar. Notable people
named Erling include:
Given name
*Erling Aas-Eng (born 1965), Norwegian politician
* Erling Aastad (1898–1963), Norwegian long jumper and spr ...
patented the single-use ice cube bag in 1978.
He was inspired to do so after spending a night with friends where their need for ice was in excess of that which could be provided by ice cube trays; he therefore filled standard plastic bags with water and froze them, the ice to subsequently be retrieved with a hammer.
The design was subsequently revised to feature individual compartments for each ice cube, with a seal at the bag's entry point. The ice cube bag has subsequently been marketed and adopted worldwide.
Mechanical
![Ice cubes for beverages - hollow cylinders](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Ice_cubes_for_beverages_-_hollow_cylinders.JPG)
Dedicated ice-maker machines can be used to produce ice cubes for laboratories, home, and academic use. Ice cubes are also produced commercially and sold in bulk.
Range of characteristics
Clear and cloudy
![Cloudy ice cubes](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Cloudy_ice_cubes.jpg)
Commercially made ice cubes may be clear, compared to domestically made ice cubes. Cloudy ice cubes occur when water is frozen quickly, or when the water is high in dissolved solids. When water is cooled to its
freezing point
The melting point (or, rarely, liquefaction point) of a substance is the temperature at which it changes state from solid to liquid. At the melting point the solid and liquid phase exist in equilibrium. The melting point of a substance depends ...
, and ice starts to form, dissolved gases can no longer stay in solution and come out as microscopic bubbles. However, as ice floats in water, once there is enough ice to form a layer on the surface, the ice layer traps all bubbles within the ice cube. Commercial ice-makers use a flowing source of purified water to make ice with cooling elements at the bottom, allowing the bubbles to be washed away from the top as the cube grows.
Crushed ice
Ice cubes that are sometimes crushed or sheared into irregularly-shaped flakes to provide an aesthetic effect to some
cocktail
A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink. Most commonly, cocktails are either a combination of spirits, or one or more spirits mixed with other ingredients such as tonic water, fruit juice, flavored syrup, or cream. Cocktails vary widely across ...
s. Crushed ice is also used when faster cooling is desired, since the rate of cooling is governed by the number and average radius of the ice particles. Ice is often also crushed to form
slushies, which can be both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Crushed ice melts more quickly than solid ice: it has a greater surface area, so heat transfer is faster compared to solid ice.
See also
*
Ice chips
Ice chips are small pieces of ice, usually smaller than ice cubes. They are often recommended before surgery or an invasive medical procedure. They may help to prevent oral mucositis or mouth sores associated with high-dose chemotherapy.
See ...
*
Ice pack
An ice pack or gel pack is a portable bag filled with water, refrigerant gel, or liquid, meant to provide cooling. They can be divided into the reusable type, which works as a thermal mass and requires freezing, or the instant type, which cools ...
*
Mpemba effect
The Mpemba effect is the name given to the observation that a liquid (typically water) which is initially hot can freeze faster than the same liquid which begins cold, under otherwise similar conditions. There is disagreement about its theoretical ...
*
Pagophagia
Pagophagia (from Greek: ''pagos'', frost/ice, + ''phagō'', to eat) is the compulsive consumption of ice or iced drinks.
It is a form of the disorder known as pica, which in Latin refers to a magpie that eats everything indiscriminately. Its medi ...
References
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Cube
In geometry, a cube is a three-dimensional solid object bounded by six square faces, facets or sides, with three meeting at each vertex. Viewed from a corner it is a hexagon and its net is usually depicted as a cross.
The cube is the only r ...
Bartending equipment