- Joined
- Oct 16, 2007
- Messages
- 1,886
- Reaction score
- 11
- Points
- 0
- Location
- USA-WA
- Website
- www.orbiter-forum.com
These bonds are strongest at 4°C. After that, they start to degrade and the molecules move further apart. If they do that, you have less mass in the same volume, meaning lower density.
That's why ice floats on the water and that's why water as a substance is of such significant interest.
BJ: Ice is a sort of crystal, these don't get the smallest possible package. You have some special electrostatic connections between the atom pairs there, which push the atoms away a bit. Water is densest at about 4°C at normal pressure, if I remember correctly - that's why freshwater fish survive in the winter, as the lowest region of the lake never freezes.
Thanks guys, I think I understand that little phenomenon a little better now.