Ice cube

American physician and inventor John Gorrie built a refrigerator in 1844 to produce ice in 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 trays are designed to be filled with water, then placed in a freezer until the water freezes into ice, producing ice cubes. 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 items are frozen inside ice cubes at home and in commercial production. 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. Danish inventor Erling Vangedal-Nielsen 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 ice cube trays could provide; 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 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 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, 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 Crushed ice is the term for ice cubes that are crushed or sheared into irregularly shaped flakes to provide an aesthetic effect to some cocktails. Crushed ice is also used when faster cooling is desired since the number and average radius of the ice particles govern the cooling rate. Ice is often also crushed to form slushies, which can be both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Crushed ice melts faster than solid ice: it has a greater surface area, so heat transfer is faster than solid ice. Ice chips are small pieces of ice, which can be obtained by crushing 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. == Alternatives ==

An alternative to ice cubes for whiskey on the rocks are so-called whiskey rocks or stones. These are used to chill a drink without diluting it. == See also ==