Why Does Water Expand When It Freezes?

Does water expand when freezing?

Why does water expand when it freezes? Why does liquid water have a density maximum? – Most liquids have a quite simple behavior when they are cooled (at a fixed pressure): they shrink. The liquid contracts as it is cooled; because the molecules are moving slower they are less able to overcome the attractive intermolecular forces drawing them closer to each other.

Then the freezing temperature is reached, and the substance solidifies, which causes it to contract some more because crystalline solids are usually tightly packed. Water is one of the few exceptions to this behavior. When liquid water is cooled, it contracts like one would expect until a temperature of approximately 4 degrees Celsius is reached.

After that, it expands slightly until it reaches the freezing point, and then when it freezes it expands by approximately 9%. This unusual behavior has its origin in the structure of the water molecule, There is a strong tendency to form a network of hydrogen bonds, where each hydrogen atom is in a line between two oxygen atoms. The pictures on this page are provided courtesy of the MathMol project at the NYU/ACF Scientific Visualization Laboratory. Information about MathMol can be found here, In the following two pictures, the first shows a typical structure of liquid water, while the second is an ice structure; note the extra open space in the ice. It is this open solid structure that causes ice to be less dense than liquid water. That is why ice floats on water, for which we should all be thankful because if water behaved “normally” many bodies of water would freeze solid in the winter, killing all the life within them.

Water’s “density maximum” is a product of the same phenomenon. Close to the freezing point, the water molecules start to arrange locally into ice-like structures. This creates some “openness” in the liquid water, which tends to decrease its density. This is opposed by the normal tendency for cooling to increase the density; it is at approximately 4 degrees Celsius that these opposing tendencies are balanced, producing the density maximum.

Updated December 3, 2013

Why does water expand when it freezes becoming less dense?

The extra hydrogen bonds that occur when water freezes increase the space between molecules, causing a decrease in overall density. In fact, each water ice molecule forms hydrogen bonds with four other molecules, while water molecules only form hydrogen bonds with an average of 3.4 other molecules.

Why does water expand when it freezes quizlet?

Why does water expand when it freezes? Because the water molecules arrange themselves into a six-sided crystalline structure that contains many open spaces (this makes ice less dense than liquid water, which is why it floats).

Why doesn’t water compress?

Water cannot be compressed due to its unique molecular structure and intermolecular forces. The water molecule consists of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, which are held together by covalent bonds. These bonds create a tetrahedral shape with a 104.5-degree angle between the hydrogen atoms.

Why does water expand when heated?

Printer Friendly NGSS Crosscutting Concepts Three cups of the same size are filled with the same mass of fresh water. One cup is put in a bucket of ice water so the water becomes cold, but does not freeze. One cup is heated so the water becomes hot, but does not boil.

One cup is left at room temperature. At the macroscopic level, what someone can see with just their eyes, there appears to be very little difference in the volume of water between the three cups. However, at the molecular level, there is a difference in volume. Image caption SF Fig.2.1. Heating and cooling water at the macroscopic and microscopic level.

Image copyright and source Images by Byron Inouye In SF Fig 2.1 the blue circles represent molecules of water. The cup in SF Fig.2.1 A was heated. An increase in temperature caused the water molecules to gain energy and move more rapidly, which resulted in water molecules that are farther apart and an increase in water volume.

• The cup in SF Fig.2.1 B was kept at room temperature and remained at the same volume.
• The cup in SF Fig.2.1 C was chilled over ice.
• A decrease in temperature caused the water molecules to lose energy and slow down, which results in water molecules that are closer together and a decrease in water volume.

When water is heated, it expands, or increases in volume. When water increases in volume, it becomes less dense. As water cools, it contracts and decreases in volume. When water decreases in volume, it becomes more dense. For samples of water that have the same mass, warmer water is less dense and colder water is more dense.

• Test this out yourself! Fill up three identical cups of water to the same level.
• Put one cup in the refrigerator to cool, heat one cup in the microwave, and leave one cup at room temperature.
• Look carefully to see if you can observe a difference in the volume of water.
• Exploring Our Fluid Earth, a product of the Curriculum Research & Development Group (CRDG), College of Education.

University of Hawaii, 2011. This document may be freely reproduced and distributed for non-profit educational purposes.

Why does water become less dense when heated?

Focus Question: How does temperature affect density? –

When a liquid or gas is heated, the molecules move faster, bump into each other, and spread apart. Because the molecules are spread apart, they take up more space. They are less dense. The opposite occurs when a liquid or gas is cooled. The molecules move more slowly and take up less space. Therefore temperature can affect density.

Why does water contract from 0 to 4?

When ice melts, the energy supplied helps in breaking these hydrogen bonds, and the molecules of water come closer, hence increasing the density of water, or ‘contracting it’. This process goes on till the water reaches about 4 degrees Celsius, at which water has the highest density.

Does milk expand when frozen?

How to Freeze Milk – Jose A. Bernat Bacete / Getty Images Milk can be frozen in its original container, so long as that container is plastic. If your milk comes in a glass or cardboard container, you’ll want to transfer it into a freezer-safe plastic container before you freeze it.

Milk will expand when frozen, causing glass or cardboard to break — and you don’t want that mess in your freezer. Also, since the milk will expand, it’s important not to place a full jug of milk straight into the freezer. Leave one to two inches of headspace in each container, whether you’re freezing the entire jug or separating it into individual containers.

Write the date on the milk with a marker, then simply reseal the lid, shake vigorously, and place it in the freezer. Milk will save in the freezer for up to three months, although it’s best to use it sooner rather than later, as it can absorb odors from nearby food.

Can water ever be compressed?

Pressure and temperature can affect compressibility – But, squeeze hard enough and water will compress—shrink in size and become more dense, but not by very much. Envision the water a mile deep in the ocean, At that depth, the weight of the water above, pushing downwards, is about 150 times normal atmospheric pressure ( Source: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Ask the Van ).

Even with this much pressure, water only compresses less than one percent. A waterjet computer-controlled cutting machine using high pressure water to make a decorative pattern in a piece of metal. Credit: Steve Brown Photography Yet, in industrial applications water can be tremendously compressed and used to do things like cut through metal (especially if an abrasive material is added to the water and the water is hot).

Water being pushed out at tremendous speed through a tiny hole is used in industry to cut through everything from metal to ceramics to plastics and even foods. It is the preferred method when the materials being cut are sensitive to the high temperatures generated by other methods.

1. It has found applications in a diverse number of industries from mining to aerospace where it is used for operations such as cutting, shaping, carving, and reaming.
2. Of course, to cut through stone a stream of water must be moving very fast and producing a tremendous amount of pressure.
3. A pump is used to pressurize water in a container at pressure values up to 90,000 pounds/square inch (psi) and then shoot it out of the nozzle at speeds up to 600 mph.

( Source: NASA ).

Can you squeeze water into ice?

Turning Water Into ice at Room Temperature Most recent answer: 10/22/2007 How can a normal bottle of mineral water at room temperature turn into ice?- Mary robinson Hi Mary, Good question! A substance’s state can normally be a solid, liquid, or gas, depending on its temperature and pressure.

• I’ll talk only about pure water for the moment, and your bottle of mineral water may indeed have less dissolved stuff in it than some tap waters.) The molecules in a gas are loosly arranged and move freely, colliding with each other occasionally.
• The molecules in a liquid are constantly interacting with their neighbors, but they still have too much energy to settle down.

The molecules in a solid are locked in a rigid pattern in space and for most substances are closer together on average in the solid than they are in the liquid. Water is an exception to this – it expands when it freezes at ordinary pressure, which is why ice floats on the top of a frozen lake.

And also why you will break a glass bottle of mineral water if you put it in the freezer. So for most substances, (except water for now, I’ll get back to it!) you can get them to solidify at room temperature if you squeeze on them hard enough, forcing the molecules to get close together and arrange themselves in the rigid solid pattern.

Water’s the peculiar one and it works backwards – you can get ice to melt by squeezing on it! See our answer to this question:, So you might think this one’s hopeless. But have no fear, ordinary water has even more surprises locked up inside of it,if you squeeze it *really really really* hard.

I’m getting this information from, Room temperature is about 300 K, so squeezing the water to a pressure of one billion Pascals – about 10,000 atmospheres or the pressure you’d get under 64 miles of water (if there were such a place), then the water at room temperature will turn to ice, and your bottle will be broken.

The funny thing is that the ice won’t be the usual ice we get in our freezers, but one with a different ordering pattern for the water molecules (the ordinary one takes up too much space). So, yes, you can do it, but it is really difficult. A more popular demonstration sometimes done is a bit of a cheat on this question but also illustrates some fun physics.

If you pump all of the air out of the bottle with a vacuum pump, then the water inside will start to boil. It takes heat energy to release a water molecule from the liquid to the gas, and so the whole thing cools down when this happens. Eventually the remaining water will get cold enough to freeze, which is very entertaining because it is done without the aid of a freezer.

It isn’t quite the answer to your question, because the water gets very cold in the process, and so this whole thing doesn’t happen at room temperature as asked. Also, the time I saw it done was with a small amount of water in a very tiny dish – it may be hard to get a bottle of mineral water to work because heat may leak in through the sides faster than it can be removed by the boiling.

Tom (published on 10/22/2007) Hello Guys,I witnessed on TV exactly what you’ve described, freezing water by vacuum boiling. The demonstration was mind boggling and dramatic! It consisted of a large (12″ dia.)glass spherical beaker with a long glass stem (3′ by 2″) connected to a vacuum pump. The long stem was angled sideways about 30* above horizon; perhaps to allow heavy vapor to escape easier.

The large spherical beaker was 1/2 full of water. After a brief discussion the vacuum pump was turned on. The water froze in 7 seconds!!! Please, please help me find this video for my college students so that I may duplicate it.- Michael Marsden, Ph.D.

This program is supported in part by the National Science Foundation (DMR 21-44256) and by the,Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this website are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

: Turning Water Into ice at Room Temperature

Why is it almost impossible to compress a liquid or a solid?

This is because the inter particle spaces present. In gases the interparticle space is very large and hence they are compressible, but in case of solids and liquids particles are close to each other and hence cannot be compressed.

Why does water have an unusual expansion?

Reason for Anomalous Expansion of Water – Ice has a crystal structure that is “open” and has a lot of space. Ice has a lower density than water. At 0°C, the H2O molecules lose their open structure and become more hydrogen bonded. As a result, the intermolecular distance between H2O molecules are reduced.

Does water expand when cold or warm?

Solids, liquids and gases expand when heated. Water expands about four percent when heated from room temperature to its boiling point. The ocean will expand when heated. Depending on what is available, heating the water can be done at school by using Bunsen burners, a hot plate, or a propane camp unit.

Why does water expand abnormally?

Hint – There is a notable irregular maximum density pattern for water, it reaches a density peak at $ } } }^0}F$. Use this concept to get the right option. Complete step-by-step answer: The anomalous expansion of water is an abnormal property of water whereby it expands instead of contracting when the temperature goes from 4°C to 0°C, and it becomes less dense.

The density becomes less and less as it freezes because molecules of water normally form open crystal structures when in solid form. Normally, liquids contract on cooling & the density increases. However, water is special. It contracts when cooled, down to a temperature of 4°C but thereafter begins to expand as it reaches 0°C and turns into ice.

So we see that the density decreases. Hence option (A) is correct. Note – This anomalous expansion of water is an abnormal property, and is accused by the hydrogen bonding between the oxygen atoms that are negatively charged and the hydrogen atoms that are positively charged, from two different molecules of water.

What if ice was denser than water?

Introduction: Bodies of water form layers based on differences in density, usually affected most by temperature in fresh water and both temperature and salinity in salt water. Water will become more dense as its temperature is lowered until it reaches its maximum density at 4° C.

1. One of the unique properties of water is that it becomes less dense as its temperature decreases from 4° C until it freezes at 0° C.
2. This allows many aquatic life forms to survive through the winter.
3. If ice were more dense than water, it would freeze and sink over and over until the entire lake was frozen.

This would eliminate many aquatic organisms and produce a system with far fewer life forms in lakes which freeze periodically. Changes in water density also cause vertical movement of water and nutrients within a lake, commonly called turnover. In the spring as the ice melts, water at the surface becomes more dense as it warms to 4 degrees C and thus sinks.

• This sinking water moves to the bottom and forces nutrient-rich water at the bottom to move up.
• This same process occurs in the fall as the surface water cools and becomes more dense; it will sink and cause the same movement or turnover of the lake’s water.
• What to Expect: This activity works best when students have had the opportunity to look at and experiment with the interactions of water masses of different densities (for examples, see Lesson 3).

If this is their first experience with that topic, give them at least one extra class session to use liquids of different densities and come up with some ideas about how they interact. This activity can be done by groups of students or as an interactive demonstration with the class.

Five gallons (about 20 liters) is a good capacity for a demonstration in a tank or aquarium; if students are using their own tanks, one gallon (about 4 liters) is sufficient capacity. As always, the structure of the lesson should be altered to allow students to pursue their own questions about density of liquids.

Encourage them to state their question and plan how they will test it; you or their peer can offer advice on their experimental design before they try it. This does not have to be a lengthy process, but simply a way to promote careful testing of questions.

Two water samples, one at room temperature (about 20-22° C and one warm but not boiling, about 35° C) Food Coloring Clear water tight container at least the size of a goldfish bowl (could be an aquarium, tank, or clear shoe box size container) Thermometers Ice

Procedure: Pose the question: what happens to lakes and ponds as they cool down and freeze in winter, and then warm up in the spring? What effect does this have on the organisms living there? Invite ideas and comments from the class, and discuss ways to find out more.

Introduce this activity as a way of modeling some of these processes.1. Prepare two water samples, one at about 20-22° C and one at about 35° C; put a few drops of different food coloring in each batch.2. Have students measure the temperature of the samples, then carefully pour some of each sample into the aquarium or tank to create two layers of different colored water.

It may help to float a sponge and pour the water on to the sponge. You can guide them to put the coldest sample in first or let them work with the materials to solve this problem themselves. This represents a stratified or layered water formation found where the sun warms the upper layers of water.3.

• Once the students have distinct water layers in the container, add ice to the surface at one end of the tank.
• As the ice melts into denser cold water, they should see the cold water move toward the bottom, causing visible circulation patterns in the colored water layers.
• Next, have students compare this process with what happens when ice is covering the entire surface of the tank.

This represents changes occuring during Spring ice melts.4. Have students describe in written or diagram form the process of mixing and turnover they observe, and relate it to the formation of cold deepwater masses in high ocean latitudes and spring and fall turnover of lakes and ponds.5.

1. You may wish to have students record temperatures at the surface, mid-depth, and near the bottom throughout the day to track stratification and warming of the water.6.
2. Allow time for testing of individual questions and reporting of results.
3. Evaluation: Students should use diagrams and written reports to describe their observations.

They should include any related personal experiences: swimming in a stratified pond in summer; testing the thickness of ice on a pond; or fishing through ice. Extensions: 1. Introduce the variable of salinity. Use salt water and vary the salinity of water samples, or use some fresh water and some salt water.2.

Use a small fan to investigate wind effects on lake circulation (use a battery operated fan).3. Freeze rocks and sand into ice and observe sedimentation as ice melts.4. Use a hose to add water to the tank to simulate a stream=s effect on lake water (you could use water with different temperatures and salinities or even sediment content).5.

Ideally, this could be followed up by observations and measurements in a nearby pond or lake.

Why is colder water more dense?

Heat Up and Cool Down It’s easy to tell the difference between hot and cold water just by feeling them. But they act differently in other ways too. Let’s see what happens if you put hot water and cold water into room temperature water.

1. Place a few ice cubes into a cup and add two tablespoons of water to make very cold water. Add 1 drop of blue food coloring to the cold water and gently mix.
2. Ask your adult partner to add two tablespoons of hot tap water to a separate cup. Add 1 drop of red food coloring to the hot water and gently mix.
3. Pour room temperature water into a taller clear plastic cup until it is about ¾-full.
4. Your adult partner should use a dropper to pick up a dropper-full of cold blue water. Look at the room temperature cup from the side as your adult partner pokes the dropper about halfway into the water and slowly squeezes the cold blue water into the room temperature water.

What do you observe? Does the cold blue water flow down to the bottom of the cup, stay near the middle, or float to the top?

Next, your adult partner should use a dropper to pick up a dropper-full of hot red water. Look at the room temperature cup from the side as your adult partner pushes the dropper about halfway into the water and slowly squeezes the hot red water into the room temperature water.

What do you observe? Does the hot red water sink down to the bottom of the cup, stay near the middle, or float to the top? When water is cooled, the water molecules move slower and get closer together. This makes cold water more dense than room temperature water.

1. Since cold water is more dense, it sinks in the room temperature water.
2. When water is heated, the water molecules move faster and spread out more.
3. This makes hot water less dense than room temperature water.
4. Since hot water is less dense, it floats on the room temperature water.
5. When placed in room temperature water, hot water tends to move up and cold water tends to move down.

What do you think would happen if you put hot water directly on top of cold water? Let’s try it and see!

• 2 identical small clear glass or plastic jars (baby food jars work well)
• Ice water
• Hot tap water
• Thin stiff plastic card (laminated playing card or rectangle or square cut from yogurt or cottage cheese lid)
• Food coloring (red and blue)

Be sure to review the safety instructions on page 1 before proceeding.

1. Fill one jar completely to the brim with ice water. Add two drops of blue food coloring and gently stir to mix. Place this jar in a shallow pan or tray to catch any water that might spill.
2. Your adult partner should fill another jar all the way to the brim with hot tap water. Add 2 drops of red food coloring and gently stir to mix.
3. Your adult partner should place a plastic card over the hot water jar and turn it upside down, being sure to hold the plastic in place. Carefully place the card and hot water jar on top of the cold water jar so that the opening of the hot water jar is directly over the opening of the cold water jar.

Very carefully slide the plastic card out from between the jars while making sure that the openings of both jars are lined up so that as little water escapes as possible.

What do you observe? Do the hot water and cold water mix together? Why do you think this happens? The hot water is less dense than the cold water so it floats on top of the cold water. Think about this What do you think would happen if you switched the jars around? Try the experiment again but this time, first place the jar with the hot tap water (colored red) on the tray.

How much does water expand with temperature?

Solids, liquids and gases expand when heated. Water expands about four percent when heated from room temperature to its boiling point. The ocean will expand when heated. Depending on what is available, heating the water can be done at school by using Bunsen burners, a hot plate, or a propane camp unit.

Does milk expand when frozen?

How to Freeze Milk – Jose A. Bernat Bacete / Getty Images Milk can be frozen in its original container, so long as that container is plastic. If your milk comes in a glass or cardboard container, you’ll want to transfer it into a freezer-safe plastic container before you freeze it.

Milk will expand when frozen, causing glass or cardboard to break — and you don’t want that mess in your freezer. Also, since the milk will expand, it’s important not to place a full jug of milk straight into the freezer. Leave one to two inches of headspace in each container, whether you’re freezing the entire jug or separating it into individual containers.

Write the date on the milk with a marker, then simply reseal the lid, shake vigorously, and place it in the freezer. Milk will save in the freezer for up to three months, although it’s best to use it sooner rather than later, as it can absorb odors from nearby food.

Is water heavier after freezing?

A given amount of water, when frozen, will weigh exactly the same as it did when it was liquid. An equal volume of water, when frozen, will actually weigh less than an equivalent volume of a liquid, since water actually becomes less dense when it becomes a solid.