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
500 ml of liquid water weighs about 500 grams. 500 ml of ice (frozen water) weighs about 458 grams. That is, ice is less dense than (liquid) water. The same number of H2O molecules are packed into a tighter space when they are liquid than when they are solid (frozen).
The result is that if you melt 500 ml of ice, you end up with about 458 ml of liquid water.
Wait, isn’t that a good thing for global warming? If melting ice turns into a smaller volume of water, shouldn’t sea ice melting cause sea levels to *drop*?
Sadly, no. For a few reasons. First, ice floats on water, sticking out above the water surface. So while most of the ice is in the water, below the surface, some of it sticks out above the water. When the ice melts, the part that was above the water now gets into the water, and it turns out that this exactly cancels out the fact that ice shrinks when it melts, so the water level stays the same. This is no accident: the proportion of ice that sticks out above the water line is exactly proportional to the density of ice vs. that of liquid water.
If that made no sense, let’s work through an example. Say you have a glass of water with an ice cube floating in it. Let’s say the ice cube weighs 100 grams. That means the ice cube has a volume of 109 ml. Of this 109 ml, 100 ml (roughly 90%) will be below the water surface. The remaining 9 ml sticks out above the water line (a 100-gram ice cube measures just under 5x5x5 cm, so the ice cube sticks out above the surface by about 5 mm). When the ice cube melts, 100 grams of ice turns into 100 grams of liquid water, which has a volume of 100 ml. So the same volume that was previously taken up by underwater ice is now taken up by melted ice, meaning the water level in the glass will stay the same.
Okay, but if melting ice doesn’t change the water level, then what’s the problem? Well, two things. First of all, not all ice is floating in the ocean. Lots of ice is currently in glaciers and ice sheets on land. When this ice melts, it flows into the ocean and contributes to its volume, causing sea levels to rise. And there’s another problem for global warming, which is that warm water actually takes up more space than cold water (i.e. warm water is less dense). So as the oceans warm up, even by a few degrees, they expand in volume, again causing sea levels to rise.
In terms of global warming and sea level rise, you’re not quite asking the question right. If you have a glass with water and ice in it, regardless of the amount of each, and you mark off where on the glass the water level is, as the ice melts the water level will not change. This is because the ice is floating in the water and displaces the same amount of water that it will represent when melted, even with the rest of the ice’s volume sticking up above water (like an iceberg). The issue for sea level rise is ice that is not floating, to simulate that it would be like placing the ice in a funnel above the glass of water. As that ice melts it will flow down the funnel and rise the level of water in the glass. So the problem for sea level rise is the melting of ice that is on land, of which there is a lot.
In terms of global warming and sea level rise, you’re not quite asking the question right. If you have a glass with water and ice in it, regardless of the amount of each, and you mark off where on the glass the water level is, as the ice melts the water level will not change. This is because the ice is floating in the water and displaces the same amount of water that it will represent when melted, even with the rest of the ice’s volume sticking up above water (like an iceberg). The issue for sea level rise is ice that is not floating, to simulate that it would be like placing the ice in a funnel above the glass of water. As that ice melts it will flow down the funnel and rise the level of water in the glass. So the problem for sea level rise is the melting of ice that is on land, of which there is a lot.
In terms of global warming and sea level rise, you’re not quite asking the question right. If you have a glass with water and ice in it, regardless of the amount of each, and you mark off where on the glass the water level is, as the ice melts the water level will not change. This is because the ice is floating in the water and displaces the same amount of water that it will represent when melted, even with the rest of the ice’s volume sticking up above water (like an iceberg). The issue for sea level rise is ice that is not floating, to simulate that it would be like placing the ice in a funnel above the glass of water. As that ice melts it will flow down the funnel and rise the level of water in the glass. So the problem for sea level rise is the melting of ice that is on land, of which there is a lot.
No, ice is less dense than water. So it takes up more space as a solid than it will when it melts into a liquid. It’s approximately a 9% difference. So if you had 500ml of ice, once it melts you’ll only have 455ml of water.
It will still weigh the same though.
No, ice is less dense than water. So it takes up more space as a solid than it will when it melts into a liquid. It’s approximately a 9% difference. So if you had 500ml of ice, once it melts you’ll only have 455ml of water.
It will still weigh the same though.
No, ice is less dense than water. So it takes up more space as a solid than it will when it melts into a liquid. It’s approximately a 9% difference. So if you had 500ml of ice, once it melts you’ll only have 455ml of water.
It will still weigh the same though.
Latest Answers