When lakes/ponds freeze, how come only the top layer is frozen and there is still water underneath? Yet when you put a bowl of water in the freezer, the whole thing is one solid block of ice.

Question

This probably has an obvious answer and something is just not clicking for me.

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

In the freezer all the water freezes because it’s a small amount of water. But a lake or a pond has more heat overall since it’s so much larger, so the whole thing doesn’t get frozen.