the.com/ice
water's chill alter ego, lighter than its liquid self and stubbornly slow to melt
means Frozen water, solid and cold, found as cubes in drinks, sheets on ponds, or caps on the poles.
from From Old English 'is,' a word for frozen water that has cousins all across the Germanic family — German 'Eis,' Dutch 'ijs,' Old Norse 'iss.' These all trace back to a Proto-Germanic '*isaz,' with possible deeper relatives in Avestan and other Indo-European tongues. The word has stayed remarkably short and sharp for millennia, much like the thing it names.
- expands
- Frozen water grows about 9% bigger, cracking pipes
- floats weirdly
- Rare solid that floats on its own liquid
- ancient layers
- Antarctic ice holds air bubbles million years old
- crystal shapes
- Forms hexagonal lattices, hence six-sided snowflakes
- slippery mystery
- Why it's slick still puzzles physicists today
antarctic ice sheet — covers 26.5 million km², contains 90% of world's ice, east antarctica
greenland ice sheet — covers 1.7 million km², 2nd largest, melting 280 billion tons/year as of 2020
lake mendenhall glacier — tidewater glacier in juneau, alaska, retreated 3.5 km since 1750