379,439 views
33 votes
33 votes
The fact that water is attracted to itself, a property called , leads to another important property, the liquid form of water is dense than the solid form. As water solidifies into ice, the molecules must move apart in order to fit into a crystal lattice structure, causing water to expand as it freezes. Because of this, and water sinks, which keeps the oceans liquid and prevents them from freezing solid from the bottom up.

The fact that water is attracted to itself, a property called , leads to another important-example-1
User Sorin Trimbitas
by
2.6k points

2 Answers

15 votes
15 votes

The fact that water is attracted to itself, a property called Adhesion, leads to another important property, the liquid form of water is less dense than the solid form. As water solidifies into ice, the molecules must move apart in order to fit into a crystal lattice structure, causing water to expand as it freezes. Because of this, ice floats and water sinks, which keeps the oceans liquid and water sinks, which keeps the oceans liquid and prevents them from freezing solid from the bottom up.

Water's adhesion and the unique expansion upon freezing create a crucial phenomenon.

Adhesion makes water molecules attract each other. When water freezes, molecules arrange in a structure, making ice less dense.

This causes ice to float, preventing oceans from freezing solid. This quality is vital for aquatic ecosystems, ensuring life can thrive in liquid water beneath the frozen surface.

User Pow
by
2.5k points
22 votes
22 votes

As the first blank is already filled, this first property is called the Cohesive property of water, which is what makes it possible to clump together into drops, due to their intermolecular forces.

The second blank is talking about density, and as we can see in our daily lives, ice is less dense than water, therefore in this blank liquid water will be MORE dense than ice, this is due to the hydrogen bonds and the orientation in which they are causing the molecules to push farther apart.

As we have discussed in the second blank, this 3rd blank is ICE FLOATS

User Dobler
by
2.7k points