Why do shallow lakes freeze quickly in winter, and deep lakes not at all?

Answer 1

because the more water the longer and colder it takes to freeze it.. its all about the m *** and tempature..

Answer 2

All matter has what is called a "specific heat" associated with it. Specific heat is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of one gram of the matter by one degree celsius. The specific heat of liquid, distilled water is actually used as the standard, and is designated one calorie (yes, when you are counting calories in food, you are counting the energy required to raise one gram of liquid water one degree celsius). The larger the mass of the matter, the more energy is required. For example, if you have 100 grams of water, you would need 100 calories to raise the temperature of the water by 1 degree celsius.

The process works in reverse; we can count how much energy needs to be taken away from the matter to lower the temperature of the mass of matter by 1 degree celsius.

Now, for a shallow lake, there is obviously less volume of water than that of a deep lake, and because there is less volume, there is less mass. This true since the density of matter equals the mass of the matter divided by the volume the matter takes up. Density is a different constant value for different matter. Pure iron has a different density from pure aluminum, but all pure iron has the same density.

Again, liquid water is used as the standard, and one gram of water occupies a space of one millileter, which is also equal to a cubic centimeter. Thus, the density of water is 1 gram per cubic centimeter. If the volume the water occupies decreases, the mass must also decrease, or the density would not remain constant. If the mass decreases, so must the volume, or the density would not remain constant.

So, smaller body of water, less mass than a larger body of water. This means that it requires less heat lost to lower the smaller body of water's temperature. Therefore, the smaller body reaches the freezing point (zero degrees celsius) quicker than the larger body.

Now, you may notice that the edges of a shallow,placid lake freeze first, and them move towards the center. That is because the cooling is not quite uniform. The edges have less volumes of water by them than the center does, so they cool quicker. That is also why lakes freeze from the top down. If the water is in motion, it will take longer for the cooling/freezing to occur because the heat lost at the edges will be transferred to other areas of the water.

Answer 3

Shallow lakes freeze quickly because there's little water to freeze of course.

Deep lakes do not freeze entirely because ice is lighter than liquid water. So when water freezes to ice it floats on top of the lake. This floating ice acts as insulation against continued freezing. Ice maybe cold but it is a fairly good heat insulator.

Answer 4

This can be answered by this question. Which would disolve faster, 1 sugar cube measuring 100 cubic-inches or 100 sugar cubes measuring 1 cubic inch?

It has to do with how quickly the tempature of 32 degrees spread to the entire body of water. The more water the longer it takes.

Answer 5

because in big lakes the water is much deeper than in tiny lakes so therefore it takes longer to freeze than a lake with less water.

Answer 6

less water, fast cooling but if you have more water, it takes longer to freeze

Answer 7

Because its less water for the air to cool, less water= faster cooling.