What caused the strange water leakage from a sealed jug?

[Fig Neutron]

I wasn't quite sure what to call this thread or where to put it.

I left a one gallon jug of water sitting in the kitchen floor. When I came back maybe 4 or 5 hours later there was a pool of water around the jug. I looked at the jug and found water slowly streaming out of the top. The jug was sitting up, the cap was still on (I checked it was pressed all the way down), and the water level was about 4 inches from the top when I left it. It was inside so there was not a significant change in temperature and there wasn't anything pressing on it. I'm guessing it has something to do pressure, does anyone know what could have caused this?

 

[Vanadium 50]

Sounds like a siphon effect.

 

[Fig Neutron]

I’ve use these jugs many times. Do you have any idea what could have made this one different?

 

[russ_watters]

Do you have a picture you can share?

 

[berkeman]

More importantly, do you have a dog? A little brother or sister?

 

[Vanadium 50]

Was it humid?

To have a siphon you need the inside and the outside wet. Condensation is one way to do that.

 

[Fig Neutron]

Do you have a picture you can share?

Unfortunately no, I didn’t think about it until it was too late.

More importantly, do you have a dog? A little brother or sister?

My dogs don’t have access to the kitchen and I do have a brother but he is older than me (I’m actually the younger sister).

Was it humid?

To have a siphon you need the inside and the outside wet. Condensation is one way to do that.

It has been raining for a couple days. I wouldn’t say that it feels humid inside, but that is a possibility.

 

[256bits]

Unfortunately no, I didn’t think about it until it was too late.

Picture of the jug!
Is it rigid glass or ceramic.. Soft plastic.

the water level was about 4 inches from the top when I left it

Was there still a gap of 4 inches of air when it was leaking?
If so, what type of cap is on the jug.
Closed screw cap, cap for pouring, cap with a type down the middle to pump water out??

It has been raining for a couple days

Atmospheric pressure can change hourly.

 

[deRoy]

I think it has to do with CO2.

CO2 dissolves in water, at low temperature and high pressures. When you closed the lid you pressurized the air.

Then if the temperature rose a little, or if the jug was contaminated with impurities, or if a big truck passing outside shook the building, air bubbles formed and some liquid was spilled out...

 

[CWatters]

The volumetric coefficient of expansion of water is 0.000214 1/^oC. A US Gallon is about 3.8L. If the water came out of the tap cold at say 10C and warmed to room temperature say 21C you would expect it to expand by 0.000214 * 11 * 3.7 = 0.009L or 9mL. If the jug started full to the top then that much water might escape - but it's probably not really enough to call a puddle. (Edit: and anyway you say the jug wasn't full).

The volumetric coefficient of expansion of air is ten times higher at 0.0034 1/^oC. Supposing there was 1L of air in the jug that was cooled by the water when the jug was filled, and then warmed up over the next 4 hours.. The expansion would be about.. 0.0034 * 1 * 11 = 0.037L or 37mL. Both together would give you about 46mL of expansion. However you would only get this much overflow if the design of the jug was right. For example some sort of sports bottle with a tube in it might cause water to be expelled before the air but with a regular jug the air would escape first.

My money would be on condensation forming on the outside of the jug.

We need photos.

 

[Fig Neutron]

This is the same kind of jug, but with a lower water level. The cap is just a push on lid. We refill these jugs and use them for drinking water. There is a machine that refills them in the grocery store. The jug was filled the morning before and brought inside. Of few of the people in my house used it to get water at breakfast, but at lunch time we found it had began leaking some time during that 4 hour period. Water was still coming out of the top when we found it.

 

[Khashishi]

Where's the hole in the jug?

 

[Fig Neutron]

Where's the hole in the jug?

The jug didn't have a hole. The water was coming out from under the lid.

 

[jim wolfe]

making sure we are on the same page.
You are saying the water is forcibly coming out from under the cap with a 4 inch air gap to the surface of the liquid in the container?
So the liquid would need to be climbing the walls of the container? Like liquid helium might?

 

[Fig Neutron]

That's correct. If anyone had told me this was possible I probably would have looked at them like they were insane (some of you might be doing that now ).

 

[CWatters]

More importantly, do you have a dog? A little brother or sister?

Are you thinking they might have knocked it over or something err worse?

 

[sophiecentaur]

How about this?
People were pouring water out of the bottle and not doing the lid up tight. Some water remained in the grooves in the lid. The air inside it was originally cold (?) The air inside the bottle warmed up in the room and some excess pressure developed, pushing the trapped water out of the lid and it dripped down the side.

 

[davenn]

How about this?
People were pouring water out of the bottle and not doing the lid up tight. Some water remained in the grooves in the lid. The air inside it was originally cold (?) The air inside the bottle warmed up in the room and some excess pressure developed, pushing the trapped water out of the lid and it dripped down the side.

very plausible