Quote:
Originally Posted by corporatejay
I'm not a scientist but wouldn't freezing bacteria actually preserve it? (I'm asking seriously).
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No. Only if you ad some kind of anti-freezing agent. Freezing a living cell causes the water within it to expand as it enters a crystaline form (IE ice). As the water within the cell expands it ruptures the structures within the cell and the cell wall.
The problem is you won't actually freeze many bacteria in a freezer anyways. The freezing point of water is 0 degrees celcius, but the fluids within bacteria don't freeze until much colder temperatures as they contain natural anti-freezing agents.
It's all kind of a moot point anyways, since the bigger issue with smells is fungus and not bacteria. Fungus are a little more sensitive to colder temperatures than bacteria. You'll kill a lot of fungus, but won't really kill the spores, which are in general much hardier than the fungus themselves. So they'll just start to grow again. It will have a short term positive effect on smell though.