whyice floats on the water?

Question

general

Answer 1

Water reaches its maximum density at 4°C (40°F). As it cools further and freezes into ice, it actually becomes less dense. On the other hand, most substances are most dense in their solid (frozen) state than in their liquid state. Water is different because of hydrogen bonding.

Ice floats because it is about 9% less dense than liquid water. In other words, ice takes up about 9% more space than water, so a liter of ice weighs less than a liter water. The heavier water displaces the lighter ice, so ice floats to the top. One consequence of this is that lakes and rivers freeze from top to bottom, allowing fish to survive even when the surface of a lake has frozen over. If ice sank, the water would be displaced to the top and exposed to the colder temperature, forcing rivers and lakes to fill with ice and freeze solid.

Answer 2

when water freezes it forms crystals with air gaps between them. that is why if you freeze a cup of water the level of ice is higher than the level of water, even though there is the same amount of water in each. there is just air as well in the ice. this same phenomenon causes ice to float. the air pockets increase the volume of the ice while the mass stays the same, thus lowering the density. therefore, ice is less dense than water and it floats.

Answer 3

Answer:
The reason why ice is lighter than water is that a certain mass of ice occupies more space than the same mass of water. This is related to “hydrogen bonding”.


Hydrogen bonding

A water molecule is composed of two hydrogen atoms (H) and one oxygen atom (O). The atoms of hydrogen and oxygen are bound by sharing their electrons with one another. This bond is called a “covalent bond”.


However, since oxygen atoms pull electrons more strongly than hydrogen atoms, the oxygen atom in a water molecule has a slightly negative charge and the hydrogen atoms have a slightly positive charge. So adjacent water molecules are attracted to one another through the slightly negatively charged oxygen atoms and the slightly positively charged hydrogen atoms. This interaction is called “hydrogen bonding”. Hydrogen bonding is much weaker than covalent bonding, however, this type of bonding has a large total effect because there are so many hydrogen bonds.

Structure of ice and water
Ice has a diamond structure due to the hydrogen bonding. Water does not have such an orderly structure, but water molecules are squeezed close to one another because of the hydrogen bonding.
There is more space in ice than in water! This is the reason why ice is lighter than water. Therefore, ice can float on water.

Answer 4

Ice has a lower density than water. When water freezes, it takes up more volume per unit of weight so it floats.

Answer 5

Ice floats on water because it is far less denser than water.A water molecule is formed when two atoms of hydrogen bond covalently with an atom of oxygen. In a covalent bond electrons are shared between atoms. In water the sharing is not equal. The oxygen atom attracts the electrons more strongly than the hydrogen.This gives water an asymmetrical distribution of charge. Molecules that have ends with partial negative and positive charges are known as polar molecules. It is this polar property that allows water to separate polar solute molecules and explains why water can dissolve so The positive regions in one water will attract the negatively charged regions in other waters. The dashes show the hydrogen bond. In a hydrogen bond a hydrogen atom is shared by two other atoms. The donor is the atom to which the hydrogen is more tightly linked. The acceptor (having a partial negative charge) is the atom which attracts the hydrogen atom. Hydrogen bonds are much weaker than covalent bonds. However, when a large number of hydrogen bonds act in unison they will make a strong contributory effect.
Liquid water has a partially ordered structure in which hydrogen bonds are constantly being formed and breaking upIn 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.
In ice Ih, each water forms four hydrogen bonds with O---O distances of 2.76 Angstroms to the nearest oxygen neighbor. The O-O-O angles are 109 degrees, typical of a tetrahedrally coordinated lattice structure. The density of ice Ih is 0.931 gm/cubic cm. This compares with a density of 1.00 gm/cubic cm. for water.

There are eleven different forms of crystalline ice that are know. The hexaganol form known as ice Ih is the only one that is found naturally.....

Answer 6

Ice is less dense than water, so that density decides whether objects float or sink. Objects more dense than water will sink while objects less dense in water will float. I hope this helps, take care.

Answer 7

due to structural arrangement, water molecules in ice are distance apart when comare to water molecules in water. hence the space/ vo;ume occupied by unit weight of ice increased. hence the density of ice is less than the water and that is why ice is float in the water

Answer 8

ice is a solid. at a temperature of 0degree cetigrate it is converted to water .it is due to that the density of ice is more than that of water.as it melts into water it's density decreases and becomes water .these two waters mix

Answer 9

because ice cannot float on earth or metal.

there is no other way to float

Answer 10

ice has lower density than water..

because water molecules in ice are arranged in a hexagonal pattern therefore making spaces between them..