Why is it a bad idea to freeze water in a plastic container?

Here are answers that have been contributed:

A:

If you try to freeze water, juice or other liquids in a closed plastic container without leaving room for expansion, your container will crack or burst. I fill plastic bottles or jugs with liquid, leaving plenty of room at the top for expansion. Once the liquid is frozen, then you can safely tighten the lid.

B:

When freezing water in plastic the water molecules will join with the plastic molecules and then you'll have plastic in your water and when you freeze it and it goes warm again and you freeze it again the chemical substance in the bottle goes in your water, which is extremely unhealthy.
-> This is untrue. Freezing water in plastic bottles does not cause the water to bind to the plastic. I have no idea where you learned chemistry, but this sounds to me like an old-wives tale. Water is perfectly fine frozen in water bottles.

Why it may be a good idea:

A:

It may be a bad idea to freeze water in plastic but water will not freeze as well as it does in plastic

B:

They keep the freezer from having to work as hard to cool the compartment, if you don't keep your freezer space full. In the event of a power outage the chunks of ice can help prevent the loss of your food for a little longer. NOT indefinitely, but it does help for brief periods of time. My freezer lasted two days during a summer hurricane.

A:

The confusion about water binding to plastic causing leaching is partly true. However, for this to happen, the water has to be EXTREMELY pure. Scientists measure water purity in mega-ohms, the highest purity possible is 10,000,000 mega-ohms which requires expensive equipment to obtain in large quantities. This is a concern only for scientists doing critical type work because this kind of water will leach chemicals out of anything since it is very aggressive.

First answer by Chris. Last edit by Crgaush. Contributor trust: 0 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 286 [recommend question]