The Power Of Expanding Ice, But What If It Could Not Expand?

[RATTER15]

I know freezing water will expand when turning to ice and will break steel concrete etc. But if the water was contained in a vessel that could not expand at all, the water could not be compressed and the vessel could not expand or break. What would be the outcome?
Just curious.

[scooping]

You've answered your own question. If the vessel cannot expand then it cannot expand. Therefore there could be a nuclear explosion in a vessel that cannot expand and the vessel still couldn't expand...

[jim360]

It still freezes solid, just a different type of solid phase.

Beyond that, I have no idea, as I don't do enough thermodynamics to know. However the point is that the system you are describing, you are applying pressure to the water (with fixed volume, presumably). Then the following phase diagram shows that at really high pressures, water is solid even at higher temperatures:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_diagram#/media/File:Phase_diagram_of_water.svg

[Old_Geezer]

I knew there are different types of ice, but couldn't tell you the details. Now I've done a quick websearch it seems like 17 types are defined https://www.google.co.uk/search?client=tablet-android-google&ei=wB9uWfqVAcPLwQKFv4OQAw&q=types+of+ice&oq=types+of+ice&;gs_l=mobile-gws-serp.3..0i67k1l3j0l2.5208.6810.0.34449.7.6.1.0.0.0.198.974.0j6.6.0....0...1.1j4.64.mobile-gws-serp..0.7.1007...41.dN_RupoFkvg

[ianess]

I'm not knowledgeable enough to answer your question but isn't it strange that water expands as it gets warmer as well as colder?

[Old_Geezer]

It's unusual rather than strange. Ice molecules have an open crystalline structure if allowed to form naturally. So there's a small expansion as it freezes. Not everything forms this state on freezing.