On Mon, 1 Dec 1997 DANMAS@aol.com wrote:
> 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.
After my authoritative-sounding commentary on how water is most dense at 4
degrees celsius (and ice expands and your dog's bowl is busted) is refuted
by Dan's statement here, I made a call to a professor of chemistry friend
of mine and lo...
Dan's right! (*ack!*) :P
(Well...mostly. The statement below:
> Water expands when heated and contracts when cooled.
Is true other than for those 4 small degrees between 4 degrees Celsius and
0 degrees Celsius, when water contracts when heated and expands when
cooled.) _Water_ is most dense at 4 degrees Celsius...ice's volume is
effected little by temperature...or so I am told. As Dan said, the change
to a crystaline structure (as my friend says "a crystaline
lattice") apparently does the damage and expands H20 to break the tub (or
blow the blockplugs.)
I bow to the mighty Dan. :)
...now I just need to find that damned high school chemistry
teacher.Grr...
neil doane
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