In a message dated 97-12-01 13:37:51 EST, mgb.roadster@juno.com writes:
> So what about water? When water freezes and turns to ice it gets bigger.
> So removing heat from some items does increase it's size. I think water
> is the only thing that does this.
>
> Does anyone know why this happens? Any explanation needs to be related
> to me in the lowest common denominator so I can understand it! I once
> asked my son to ask his science teacher this question. I think my son
> thought the teacher would make him to figure it out on his own ,,,,,, he
> never asked.
Larry:
The key to this cunundrum is your statement "When water freezes and *turns*
to ice..." (emphasis mine). Water and ice are two different things. When
water, a liquid, freezes, the molecules re-arrange themselves into a
crystaline structure, a solid. Simply put, the molecules in the solid ice are
spaced further apart than the molecules in liquid water.
Water expands when heated and contracts when cooled. Ice also expands when
heated and contracts when cooled. A piece of ice at -300 degrees is smaller
than it is at 31 degrees. A pound of water occupies a larger volume at 211
degrees than it does at 33 degrees. When water freezes, it becomes something
else - ice! Even though they are both H2O. Sorta like a lump of coal and a
diamond - they are both forms of carbon, but oh so different.
When we talk about ice melting, that is really a mis-nomer. Ice doesn't melt,
it changes state. If you heat a piece of chocolate, for example, it does
melt, but it is still chocolate. The same is true of steel, but not ice.
At least I think all that's true! I'm now going to go have a cup of hot
chocolate.
Dan Masters,
Alcoa, TN
'71 TR6---------3000mile/year driver, fully restored
'71 TR6---------undergoing full restoration and Ford 5.0 V8 insertion - see:
http://www.sky.net/~boballen/mg/Masters/
'74 MGBGT---3000mile/year driver, original condition
'68 MGBGT---organ donor for the '74
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