2007-07-25 20:58:27 · 24 answers · asked by TANI C 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
When floating ice melts it makes absolutely no difference to the water level. But when ice above the sea, such as glaciers and polar caps sitting on "land" melt, this is what will cause the rise in global sea levels.
When you melt an ice cube held on a spoon above your drink, the drink level rises.
Q.E.D.
2007-07-25 21:04:27 · answer #1 · answered by oldhombre 6 · 5⤊ 1⤋
When a certain amount of water freezes, it takes up more room than it did previously ... so when that ice cube melts, it will displace less space in the cup, not more. Also, the reason why ice melting on ice caps and glaciers will make the sea level increase is because it is melting on land and then entering the sea, providing more water to the ocean than before. During ice ages, therefore, the sea levels are lower because more of the earth's water is trapped on land as ice. The total amount of water in the earth and atmosphere does not change, it just changes its state - ie from water vapour to cloud to precipitation to surface water and groundwater (and sometimes this is in the form of ice).
2007-07-26 02:37:37 · answer #2 · answered by VWat22 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
sea ice melting wont cause sea level rise because a peice of ice floating in water displaces as much water as is frozen (ie no change in sea level). Land based ice however will contribute to the rise in sea level. the two biggest pieces of this are Greenland and Antarctica. Someone said if all the ice goes the sea level will go up 60 meters...its more like 70 meters....
2007-07-26 00:51:17 · answer #3 · answered by njdevil 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I suspect that the ice cube in your drink doesn't make the level go up because it has displaced that amount of water because it is contained within the glass and when it melts there is no difference.
The sea is not contained however and, therefore when the ice bergs etc., melt, the water can go where it likes as it is not restrained in any way.
I'm not explaining myself very well - sorry!
2007-07-25 21:21:45 · answer #4 · answered by Ladyfromdrum 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would say that the ice was already in the water causing the displacement to have already occured with the polar Ice caps if they melt because there is quite alot of it out of the water so if it does melt the sea will rise which it has been doing because sinse the begining of time and nothing to do with climate change trust me but really the sea wont rise enough for us to notice it rise maybe in about 3-400 years time london maybe under water no bad thing really tho is it
2007-07-25 21:06:09 · answer #5 · answered by bullet_2k4 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
You are asking two separate questions. As the glacies melt the oceans will rise. Ice floats on water so it is less dense than water so when the ice cube in your glass melts the water that results will be a lttle more dense so the level in the glass should temporarily fall by a titchy amount.
2007-07-26 03:01:11 · answer #6 · answered by L D 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some wannabe know-it-all on '60mins' made one of the stupidest claims on modern television when he suggested this analogy. Since then this idea has been reflected off many other people.
So for the 1,000,000th time.
The south pole is a continent with ice sheets up to 2 miles deep. That's ice on land.
Similarly Greenland is the worlds largest island and completely covered in ice.
All the world's glaciers are on land.
Changes in sea level are common. The reason is that climate changes the amounts of water that become locked in either the atmosphere or in ice.
By common I mean on a geological timescale.
2007-07-25 23:01:16 · answer #7 · answered by Simon D 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Excellent thought.
Law of displacement says that an Ice cube in a glass of water on melting will not increase its volume. Fine, but then why Scientists claim that Sea level increases with melting glaciers?
Answer might be in that Glaciers gets added more and more and starts melting. But the melting glaciers were not part of the sea once.
2007-07-25 21:31:52 · answer #8 · answered by Harihara S 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Icebergs will be the first to melt and at this point the sea level will actually drop, the amount of water when melted doesn't compare to the sea level from displacement because at colder tempratures ice becomes heavier and displacment is cause by both volume and weight.
when glaciers and polar ice caps melt then the sea will rise
2007-07-25 21:20:29 · answer #9 · answered by nurgle69 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The water does rise when the ice cube melts. When the ice in the sea melts, the water also rises up.
2007-07-25 21:04:45 · answer #10 · answered by a 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋