1 – Frozen ice is less dense than liquid water. That is why ice cubes float in your drink!
2 – In fact at positive 4 °C , water is the most dense. Colder than that , and the density decreases , and also warmer than that , the density decreases.
3 – 4 degrees Celsius turns out to be the temperature at which liquid water has the highest density. If you heat it or cool it , it will expand. The expansion of water when you cool it to lower temperatures is unusual , since most liquids contract when they are cooled.
4 – An interesting consequence of this peculiar feature of water is that the temperature of water at the bottom of a lake in the winter is almost always 4 degrees C , since the densest water will settle to the bottom . If it gets any colder or warmer , it will rise. Ice floats on top of lakes , preventing evaporation and convection in the frozen layer , and lakes stay liquid underneath , allowing fish and other life to survive.
5 – This is a very special property of water. Almost every other type of matter gets more dense when it changes phase from a liquid to a solid , but water gets less dense. Why? Because ice is a crystal , which means it has a regular pattern with spaces in between molecules. The spaces in the crystal are larger than the spaces between molecules in the liquid. More space = less dense, so ice is less dense than water.
6 – The amazing fact that water freezes on the surface of a lake but not below it allows plants and fish to live through the winter.
7 – Generally , all liquids expand on heating , but water is an exception to this rule. If water is heated, its volume gradually decreases. (This decrease in volume continues till the temperature rises to 4 °C.) At temperatures over 4 °C water starts expanding. It then keeps expanding with the further rise in temperature , till finally at 100 °C it turns into steam.
8 – If ice were heavier than water , it would sink to the bottom eventually whole of the lake would freeze , destroying any life in it. Can you imagine what would happen to aquatic life if the lake froze solid every winter?
- Some would say the strange or unusual or anomalous properties of water.
- But in reality there is nothing strange or unusual or anomalous about the properties of water. In fact water do not have a reasoning nor intelligent and neither a will. So it is not by itself that water behave in this particular way.
- If someone says that the pizza on the table was cooked by itself and came on the table by itself! Everybody present there will have a big laugh and will think that this man is foolish or mad.
- And the same goes for the floating ice!!
- The ice floating and insulating the water below it from freezing , is not an accidental or merely a chance product of nature.
- The Creator who has created water , Himself has created this special properties so that fishes and aquatic life survives due to this nature of water , ice being lighter than water , floats and insulates the water below it from freezing.
- He has created all creation with His Mercy. Everything He has created is bless with His mercy.
- He has created all creation without defect.
- He is the source of Infinite Mercy and Beneficence.
- He is The Protector and The Guardian. He is The One who Sees to the growth of His creation , leading them where they destined to go.
- Nothing escapes His attention for a moment.