why does an iceberg float in the ocean?

Answer 1

Water traps air as it freezes, actually the air is in the water...think about how fish breath...or how co2 is in your soda....

When it freezes the gas stays with it and makes the ice slightly larger in volume than the water and also more boyant.

actually about 90-95% of the iceberge is underwater do to it's own mass, kind of like how when you float your head remains above the surface and the rest of you underneath.

Hope this sums it up.

Answer 2

the iceberg floats because the water is more dense than the ice... means water hv more density compare to the iceberg... therefore it floats... example if u put an ice in ur glass of water... the ice floats rather than sinks..

certain iceberg are very big so on the water surface we can only see 1/4 of it's total... it's very big so it reaches until the ground but on the water surface our eyes can only see as if it is floating on the water....

on other cases, if the iceberg was cracked and became only a little amount of iceberg than it floats due to bouyant force acting on it, and that's what makes it floats....

Answer 3

When water freezes into ice its density changes. As water gets closer to the freezing temperature, its density increases because the molecules are slowing down and getting closer together. When the molecules almost stop translational motion, they start to link up to form ice crystals. Ice crystals take up more room than liquid water, so as the molecules in the crystal spread out, the density drops quite a bit. Thus, ice is less dense than water, and we all know less dense materials will float on more dense materials....like an iron nail will float on a puddle of the liquid metal, mercury.

Interestingly, salt will migrate out of the ice. If you put a salt water in a freezer cold enough to freeze it into ice, the saline ice cube will soon have a coating of salt on its outside...making the inner ice non-saline. Since many icebergs are compsed of fresh water ice, they will be much less dense than salt water....which is more dense than fresh water.

Black ice, which is really just colorless ice, has very little air in it. Ice becomes white when it has air pockets in it. BOTH float quite well, so air content in ice is not required for ice to float.

Answer 4

when things freeze/cool they shrink (their particles become closer togoether)...all except ice.
When water freezes into ice it actually expands and the molecules form a lattice structure. This actually means its becomes less dense than water.
Density is how many "particles" are in a specific area eg 2 cubes that are each 5cm3, but 1 is made of aluminium and the other lead. the amuminium is less dense and feel lighter than the lead.
Sea water also contains many salts (ie the dead sea is incredibly salty and you float much easier than in "normal" sea water) and this makes it even more dense than fresh water (remember ice is pure fresh water).
Ice also sits on the surface of freshwater in ponds, puddles, lakes etc for the same reason.
9remember too cream is less dense than cream and sits on the surface).

Answer 5

pressure pushing back up on the iceberg from the ocean. that's why about 90% is under water.

Answer 6

Why not? Ice floats on water all the time. In fact, in ocean-water the iceburg would float even higher than ice in fresh water. The salt water is heavier then regular water and the iceburg has a lower salt content than does the ocean water.

Answer 7

the air inside has nothing to do with it. that air was already in the water to start with, it only becomes visible when frozen.

the reason is,water expands when it freezes, which gives a certain amount of ice more volume than liquid water has. more volume, same weight, means less dense. therefore, floats.

Answer 8

Ice cubes float because of bouyancy, meaning they have air in them that makes them rise to the top of the water.
It's the same reason that you will float if you hold your breath and lay on your back in a pool of water.

Answer 9

The same reason an ice cube floats in your lemonade.

Answer 10

because there's air inside of them. inside the icebergs there are billions of little air bubbles, making the ice buoyant.