An Explanation As To Why Ice Floats In Liquid

Hank Green of SciShow explains why ice floats when all logic points to the fact that solids usually sink in liquids.

The answer to that is simply density. If the material is more dense than the fluid that surrounds it, it’ll sink if it’s less dense it’ll float. So in short, the answer is that ice floats because frozen water is less dense than liquid water. But
how is that possible? isn’t it all just water and aren’t solids like definitionally more dense than a liquid. Well not definitionally. Usually yes, but water molecules are special in the way that they’re shaped and how their electrons are distributed around them.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.