Question

- A student states that Earth would be no different if water did not expand when it freezes. Do you agree with this statement? Explain your answer.

Answer 1

If water didnt expand when it froze then it would be more dense so ice would sink. If ice sunk then it would cause a lot of ocean life to die because of the cold and water levels to rise more.

Answer 2

Yes I agree.

The very basic fundamental to remember here is that the ice when expands causes the floating of itself on top of water. Thus, if ice stops expanding, it will not float on the top of water body and thus would sink and may cause the freezing additional water in the water bodies. This could happen in the Antarctic , Arctic and all cold regions. Rivers may stop flowing in cold regions as they all will be frozen and also the survival of species will become difficult