Ice water please

Chemistry Level 1

Eddie has a glass of pure water with an ice cube floating in it. If he leaves it until the ice completely melts, what will happen to the surface level? Will it rise, fall, or stay the same?

Note: Ignore the evaporation of water and assume that the temperature of the water stays constant.

The surface will rise. The surface will fall. The surface will remain at the same level.

Aditya Virani by Aditya Virani

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2 solutions

Aditya Virani Staff
Jan 28, 2016

The density of liquid water and solid ice are about 1.0 g/mL 1.0\text{ g/mL} and 0.9 g/mL , 0.9\text{ g/mL}, respectively. As a result when ice floats on water, 90% of its volume is submerged and 10% of its volume stays above the surface. When ice melts and turns into water, its volume shrinks to 9 10 \frac{9}{10} its original volume. This volume is equal to the initially submerged volume of the ice cube, and therefore the surface level does not change.

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A flooding object displaces water of its own mass. If the mass of ice is m m then the volume of water displace has a mass of m m . When all the ice melted, the volume it fills is the same as it has displaced earlier, therefore, the water level stays the same.

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