We went down to Keswick at the height of the big freeze the other week. If you look at the pictures, you can just see ice forming on Derwent Water. It is amazing that ice floats. It is the only example I can think of where a solid is less dense than the liquid from which it forms. This is because the bonds between the molecules rotate and spread as it solidifies. It is fortunate that this happens. If ice was more dense than water, lakes would freeze from the bottom up, killing all life. Life may never have survived on Earth.
We went down to Keswick at the height of the big freeze the other week. If you look at the pictures, you can just see ice forming on Derwent Water. It is amazing that ice floats. It is the only example I can think of where a solid is less dense than the liquid from which it forms. This is because the bonds between the molecules rotate and spread as it solidifies. It is fortunate that this happens. If ice was more dense than water, lakes would freeze from the bottom up, killing all life. Life may never have survived on Earth.
