B Barber
Science Coordinator

Partner Primary & Secondary Schools
John Paul, Nazareth, Padua, St John's Reg. Colleges & Partner Primary

Science

Middle Years Science Program - Facts

Middle Years Science Program

 

Ice
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Did you know that when water becomes ice it actually expands in size by 9%. This means that a 250mL glass of water becomes 273mL of ice. This ability to expand makes ice less dense than water and therefore will float on the top of water. Water is the only substance than expands when changing from liquid (water) to solid (ice). During the ice age when lakes and oceans froze over if water acted like all other substances, it would turn to ice and become denser than water. It would therefore form an ice blanket across the bottom of the oceans killing all plant life and therefore kill all other types of fish since they all depend on this food somewhere in its food chain. Many species we know today would not have survived the ice age. Also, expanding ice is the reason you do not place water in glass bottles and freeze them in your fridge. Expanding ice is strong enough to shatter concrete!