Question

What do you notice happens as you freeze water (0 degrees Celsius or 273 K) that can be used to explain why ice floats in liquid water?

The water molecules are very closely packed.
The water molecules are spread apart.
Some water molecules are close together and others are floating around.

Answer 1

When water freezes, it forms a hexagonal lattice structure, causing the water molecules to be more spread apart. This results in the density of ice being lower than liquid water, leading to ice floating. This is due to the density anomaly of water.

Step-by-step explanation:

When water freezes, the water molecules arrange themselves in a hexagonal lattice structure, with each molecule forming hydrogen bonds with four neighboring molecules. This causes the molecules to be more spread apart compared to when they are in liquid form. As a result, the density of ice is slightly lower than that of liquid water, which is why ice floats. This phenomenon is known as the density anomaly of water.

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