http://www.ck12.org Chapter 15. Water
MEDIA
Click image to the left for more content.Density
The molecular structures of solid and liquid water are shown inFigure15.5.
FIGURE 15.5
Molecular arrangement of H 2 O molecules
in the solid (right) and liquid (left)
phases.Interestingly, due to the "open" nature of the rigid solid form, the density of liquid water is actually higher than that
of solid ice. As a result, ice floats on water. This is relatively rare; most other substances are more dense in their
solid form. The density of water as a function of temperature can be graphed, as shown inFigure15.6.
FIGURE 15.6
Density vs. temperature curve for water.