Why does't ice when it melts in a glass full to the top with liquid overflow the rim of the glass??

Question

Try it for yourself and then think about icebergs in the oceans why are they different?

Answer 1

your question has already been answered but let me answer your iceberg part.... their is no difference! Granted icebergs may have other solid objects frozen into them that may displace water once they hit the ocean, even if all the ice in the world melted, sure the sea level would rise, but the water would not overflow the earth and start floating out into space....

Imagine the world as a glass empty with water but filled with ice... once the ice melted the level of liquid would have risen...
if the world (with it's current ice bergs) were filled to the capacity of the container (like you did with the cup)... the ice bergs, like the ice cubes, would have displaced enough water that should they melt, the water would still not overflow the capacity of the world....

However, the world is not filled to capacity with water... nor is the world filled to capacity with ice (enough ice to displace so much water as to cause the water level to rise)....

you have to think ratio.... take a large enough glass and the right amount of ice that is in the same ratio as the earth is today... take into account that all the worlds ice is not floating in the ocean and you'll notice the water level rise as the ice melts.... with such a small glass and an ice cube... you're talking about if the world had 5% of its water in the form of an iceberg floating around in the ocean... and that's not how it is... with only about 2% locked in ice and not all 2% floating around in the water to displace liquid if they would melt of course you'd see the water level rise... if all that ice was suddenly floating in the ocean and it melted you wouldn't see a significant rise in water because the level of the water would have already risen because it was displaced by the ice....

Answer 2

Because the displacement volume of the solid cube is more than the liquid volume of the water. So as the cube melts there is less displacement leaving less volume in the glass, the liquid aquired from the melted cube is not enough to fill the displacement volume. It's all about that one magic word 'Displacement'. Bravo thatwench

Answer 3

Because ice is less dense than water, therefore it shrinks in size as it melts

Which is more dense - Ice or Liquid Water?


DENSITY is defined in a qualitative manner as the measure of the relative "heaviness" of objects with a constant volume. To understand the properties of ice, we need to think in terms of a change in volume with a constant weight or mass.
Density Comparison to Water: In chemistry, the density of many substances is compared to the density of water. Does ice float on water or sink in the water?

Because ice floats, we can infer that ice must be less dense than water.
If water is frozen in a glass jar, the glass jar breaks.
If a pop can freezes, it will also burst.
From both of the above we infer that the volume of the ice has increased.
Conclusion: The volume of ice must be greater than the same mass of liquid water. Why does the volume increase?

Molecular basis for the Volume Increase of Ice:

The normal pattern for most compounds is that as the temperature of the liquid increases, the density decreases as the molecules spread out from each other. As the temperature decreases, the density increases as the molecules become more closely packed. This pattern does not hold true for ice as the exact opposite occurs.

In liquid water each molecule is hydrogen bonded to approximately 3.4 other water molecules. In ice each each molecule is hydrogen bonded to 4 other molecules.

Compare the structures of Liquid Water and Solid Ice - Graphic Notice the empty spaces within the ice structure, as this 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.



Comparison of:

Liquid water / Ice


Density = 1.0 g/mL / Density = 0.92 g/mL

Answer 4

Because as the ice melts the water occupies the same space the solid ice displaced with its volume.

Answer 5

Ice is less dense than water; it is one of the only substances which have a denser liquid form than the solid form. Is it global warming and the rise of sea level; is that what you are getting at here? The problem isn't the icebergs melting to rise sea levels, rather it is the water freed from glaciers on land...Antartica, for instance.

Answer 6

Because water is one of the only things that expands when it freezes. Since it was melting it got smaller, but if you tried it with anything else it would probably overflow.

Answer 7

because by the time the ice melts youve already drunk some of whats in the glass coz its a hot day

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Answer 8

when water turns to ice it expands but still weighs the same so the ice displaces as much water as it would do if it were a liquid, therefore when it melts it's shrinking to it's original size and so the water level doesn't increase

Answer 9

water expands when it freezes, so the ice when it melts won't add to the overall volume of fluid in the glass.

Answer 10

Because the ice is heavier than the water that melts from it.