Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!rutgers!iuvax!pur-ee!pur-phy!hal
From: hal@pur-phy (Hal Chambers)
Newsgroups: sci.misc
Subject: Re: ice cubes
Message-ID: <1101@pur-phy>
Date: 11 Apr 88 12:30:34 GMT
References: <7549@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>
Reply-To: hal@newton.physics.purdue.edu.UUCP (Hal Chambers)
Organization: Purdue Univ. Physics Dept., W. Lafayette, IN
Lines: 13
Keywords: float

In article <7549@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> seeker@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Karen Lynn White) writes:
>This is a serious question, no flames please.

>Can somebody tell me exactly why ice cubes float?  It seems I ought to know
>but I don't.

Water at 0 C is denser than ice at 0 C (i.e. water expands about 4% when
it freezes).  So, an ice cube floats for the same reason a piece of wood does.

As I (hopefully, correctly) recall water reaches its maximum density at
about 4 C.

Hal Chambers