If an ice cube is stored in a freezer could it evaporate given enough time? Is there a temperature below which water cannot evaporate (even just a little)?
[Physics] Can water evaporate when frozen
evaporationtemperaturethermodynamics
Related Solutions
At high enough pressure you can keep water as a liquid above 100°C. With even more pressure you can even keep ice above 100°C. Similarly you can boil water at room temperature with a low pressure.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_diagram)
The phase diagram of water shows what state it is in at any given temperature and pressure.
edit: To answer Phil's question. The very steep vertical line between the blue(solid) and liquid(green) at 0°C shows why pressure isn't the reason ice skates have a film of water to slide on. You would need to increase the pressure to a few kbar to get liquid at even slightly below freezing. See how far vertically you would need to go to hit the green area starting to the left of the vertical line at 0°C
It is actually the friction between the blade and the ice that creates heat which melts the surface.
The equilibrium vapor pressure of water vapor over ice is well known and easy to google for (http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/ice/ice.htm is one possible link). It is slightly lower than the equilibrium vapor pressure of water vapor over liquid. Ice does not evaporate - it sublimates under those conditions. The equilibrium vapor pressures are the result of the balance of entropy gain in the vapor phase vs the enthalpy required to change the phase of a water molecule. This is the thermodynamics of the problem. The kinetics (how long would it take to achieve equilibrium) is a result of the M-B distribution.
Best Answer
yes, this is called Sublimation.
Ice has a vapor pressure:
Molecules will go from the solid phase to the gas phase or visa versa depending upon whether the partial pressure of water vapor in the gas phase is above or below the vapor pressure of the ice, until equillibrium is reached.