Ok, so my question is rather dumb and I apologise in advance.
If I have 500ml of warm water, and I place exactly 500ml of ice into said water, when it melts will it make it up to 1L?, and if so why is global warming such an issue because isn’t there more water on earth than there is ice, so wouldn’t it just melt away. (I’m not taking away from the fact global warming I not an issue) I was just making something that needed to cool quick so I put ice in it and it made me curious!!
In: 2
Ice at or near melting temperature is less dense than water at or near melting temperature, so if you put 500 mL of ice into 500 mL of water and it all melts, you get less than a liter of water at the end of it.
As /u/aetherialClockwork mentioned, the sea level rise associated with global warming’s melting of ice is due to ice that is currently on land (or other ice) and not already in the water. In your example, you start with 500 mL of water. You add 500 mL of ice to the water and you get almost a liter of water. The important part is not that you get slightly less than a liter, but the fact that your ice went from being outside the water (like a glacier) to being immersed in the water (like a glacier calving into the ocean) and melting. The total volume of liquid nearly doubled.
Latest Answers