How do you make clear ice cubes?

What makes some ice cloudy and some perfectly clear? Discover the answer and learn how to make your own batch of clear cubes in this HowStuffWorks podcast.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Welcome to brain Stuff from house stuff works dot com

(00:22):
where smart happens. Hi Am Marshall Brain with today's question,
how do you make clear ice cubes? If you live
in an area where icicles form in the winter, you
know that icicles are normally clear and beautiful. There are

(00:43):
two things that make icicles so perfect. First, icicles are
made from pure water in the form of melted snow,
and second, icicles are created in layers. Water drips down
the icicle and freezes in progressive layers rather than freezing
all at once, the approach of voids and trapped bubbles.
If you ever look inside a restaurant ice maker, you'll

(01:06):
find that it makes ice and layers. Also, cold water
runs continuously over a plate or a grid where the
ice is forming, and the ice cubes or ice discs
in some machines grow in layers. If you would like
to try creating clear ice at home, start with distilled
water to eliminate any minerals, and then boil it to

(01:26):
eliminate air dissolved in the water. Make the cube small
or thin to get closer to the way that icicles
are formed. Do you have any ideas or suggestions for
this podcast? If so, please send me an email at
podcast at how stuff works dot com. For more on
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