Sudut Kimia : Maklumat 2010

he final interesting property that we shall deal with in this article is that ice floats. This should not happen because normally, when a liquid becomes a solid the solid is denser than the liquid and sinks. This is not the case in ice, because of the hydrogen bonds. In liquid the hydrogen bonds are being made and broken constantly. In ice, however, the water molecules form a regular structure based on the hydrogen ions, and they are held slightly further apart than has been the case in the liquid. This makes ice less dense and floats. One interesting result of this property can be seen in ponds and lakes. Ice forms on the surface and the densest water at the bottom of the pond is at 4 degrees centigrade, so fish and other water dwellers are not frozen to death.

These properties of water make it so useful to life. We need water to be a liquid at room temperature because many of the bodies systems are water based. We need water to be a polar solvent, so that the important nutrients we need can be dissolved in it.