why doesn't a lake freeze completely in winter?

Question

please emergency to respond this fast

Answer 1

There are many factors that affect the freezing of water, whether it is in a freezer, in a lake, or in an ocean. First, of course, is water temperature. If a lake is between two hills and gets the full effect of the sun in the day and the reflected heat from the hills at night, it will take a long time to freeze. Water below the surface will take a longer time to lose heat than water on the surface. Certain types of minerals in the earth will also retard freezing. So will the absence of wind and the presence of trees. So, there is no easy answer to your question.

Answer 2

Because frozen water is less dense than liquid water (This is a very important property of water otherwise everything dies in the winter). This means ice will accumulate on the surface of a deep body of water first, where it can act as insulation for for water beneath. I also think that in deep enough water the colder water at the bottom of lakes is denser and under more pressure, which lowers its freezing point ever more, though I'm not sure.

Answer 3

A lake that does not have a continual water supply feeding INTO it and out of it will freeze over....and thick enough (if the weather is cold enough) to drive cars and trucks over---as they do on the small lake in front of my house... A lake that HAS a continual water supply feeding into and out of it--such as SPRING FED LAKES, then the water doesn't freeze completely because the water is always moving ----ever hear that if it gets EXTREMELY COLD that if you leave your water taps on a TINY BIT inside the house, your pipes will NOT freeze up from the bitter cold? that's because of the constantly moving water... it moves too fast to freeze.

Answer 4

Because, paradoxically, ice is an excellent insulator; once the surface of a lake has a layer of ice on it, it is EXTREMELY difficult for the air temperature above to get low enough to cause the water UNDER the ice to ever fall below about four degrees Celsius.

Answer 5

It relies upon on how deep and how chilly the section is. If the lake is quite deep the warmth of the Earth will shop it unfrozen. If the warmth does not upward thrust up there that it's going to slowly freeze watching the temperature.

Answer 6

Ice floats, so it moves up. Water doesn't freeze easily, and the water underneath the ice is shielded from the cold. It is also at higher pressure farther down, so it has to be much colder than 32F/0C for it to freeze.

Answer 7

because the water deeper in the lake is a tiny bit warmer than the water on the surface.

Answer 8

after the surface forms a "skin" of ice, the water below is insulated somewhat. The top ice layer will thicken in time, but this only adds to the insulation of the water below it.

Answer 9

if you live far enough north they do. they drive trucks on the great lakes in the winter time...

Answer 10

because it's running water