Why is it that ice cubes somtimes float on water and somtimes the ice cubes sink?

Answer 1

I hate to pick on a specific answer, but really:

"If the ice cube is less dense than the water, it sinks. If it is heavier, it sinks. Like some ice cubes come together to form 5 ice cube, then it will sink. Like if you throw a sick in a lake, it floats. But if it was a heavy log, it will sink. Or sometimes the ice is stuck and it can't float."

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This sounds like the quiz they gave in 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail.'

All ice is less dense than liquid water. Objects that are less dense than water float on water. They do not sink. Five ice cubes have precisely the same density as one ice cube. Both sticks and logs float on water (unless lignum vitae wood or waterlogged) because they're both made out of wood. You've never seen a floating log?

The last statement is correct. If ice cubes don't float in water, it means that they've been somehow stuck to the bottom of the glass, or otherwise weighed down.

Answer 2

If the ice cube is less dense than the water, it sinks. If it is heavier, it sinks. Like some ice cubes come together to form 5 ice cube, then it will sink. Like if you throw a sick in a lake, it floats. But if it was a heavy log, it will sink. Or sometimes the ice is stuck and it can't float.

Answer 3

If the ice cubes are made of water and if they are placed in water, I know of no circumstances when they won't float. If you have frozen cubes of something heavier than water, then they will sink.

Answer 4

The H2O molecule is polar, Meaning it has a positive and a negative side. When the water freezes the molecules line up with an oxygen, hydrogen bonding to the hydrogen molecule of it neighbor. This causes the freezeing water molecules to form long, branching chains. These chains take up more space than the liquid water, hence less dense, hence ice floats. hopes this help Stooleo

Answer 5

Ice cubes should always float, because water is denser.
The only time I've seen sinkers is if they're stuck to the glass.

Answer 6

Did you say water?... hmmm... Don't drive again when you see the cubes sinking! The alcohol content in the vodka is high and the density may be less than ice! Hic Hic
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Now serious: the D2O solid is the ice from heavy water, and this 'ice' density is 1017.7 kg/m3. This 'ice' sinks in the H2O liquid!!!!!!!!
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[edit] High-density amorphous ice
High-density amorphous ice (HDA) can be formed by compressing ice Ih at temperatures below ~140K. At 77 K, HDA forms from ordinary natural ice at around 1.6 GPa[3] and from LDA at around 0.5 GPa[4] (approximately 5000 atm). At 77 K it can be recovered back to ambient pressure and kept indefinitely. At ambient pressure HDA has a density of 1.17 g/cm3[5].
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[edit] Very-high-density amorphous ice
Very-high-density amorphous ice (VHDA), was discovered in 1996 by Mishima who observed that HDA became denser if warmed to 160 K at pressures between 1 and 2 GPa and has a density of 1.26 g/cm3 at ambient pressure [6]. More recently, workers at the University of Innsbruck have suggested that this denser amorphous ice was a third amorphous form of water, distinct from HDA, and called it VHDA [7]

Answer 7

Those are some more polluted cubes if they sink !

Answer 8

when the ice cubes float thay have air in it .and when it sinks it has no air

Answer 9

Because somtimes they get jammed in the bottom of the glass you ding-dong. lol

Answer 10

idk