Hakan Sayar, Fort Lewis, WA (hakan-sayar@us.army.mil) sends us: I place a clear plastic cup of distilled water in the same location in my freezer and in twelve hours I normally find frozen water that rises no higher than the rim of the cup. However, lately the water has frozen in these odd shapes as if to somehow defy gravity, by producing bold and spiked columns. I cannot seem to duplicate these results at will. I am at the mercy of the freezing process. Note: nothing hangs near or over this cup to influence any capillary action while freezing.

Stewart Tansley says this ARTICLE has discussed it.