Saturday, May 1, 2010

Why ice float on water

Although water has a density of 1g/cm3, ice will still float on it as its density is lower than water. When water freezes to ice, the volume increase. For example, if water is frozen in a glass jar, the glass jar breaks. Using the kinetic particle theory, when a substance is in a solid state, the particles are closely packed in an orderly manner.Thus the density of solid is higher than liquids. However, for ice it is in the opposite manner. There are empty spaces within the ice structure, which translates to a more open or expanded structure. The ice structure takes up more volume than the liquid water molecules, hence ice is less dense than liquid water.
In conclusion, when water is frozen into ice, the volume increases while the mass is kept the same so the density will be lesser than 1g/cm3. Therefore, ice float on water.
Comparison of Liquid water and ice:
Mass of water = 100 g
Mass of ice = 100 g

Volume of water = 100 mL
Volume of ice = ? mL
Density of water = 1.0 g/mL
Density of ice = 0.92 g/mL

The volume of ice is therefore 100x 1.0/0.92 = 108.7 cm3. Which is 8.7cm3 more than water.

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