What is Ice: Definition and 980 Discussions

Ice is water frozen into a solid state. Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaque bluish-white color.
In the Solar System, ice is abundant and occurs naturally from as close to the Sun as Mercury to as far away as the Oort cloud objects. Beyond the Solar System, it occurs as interstellar ice. It is abundant on Earth's surface – particularly in the polar regions and above the snow line – and, as a common form of precipitation and deposition, plays a key role in Earth's water cycle and climate. It falls as snowflakes and hail or occurs as frost, icicles or ice spikes and aggregates from snow as glaciers and ice sheets.
Ice exhibits at least eighteen phases (packing geometries), depending on temperature and pressure. When water is cooled rapidly (quenching), up to three types of amorphous ice can form depending on its history of pressure and temperature. When cooled slowly, correlated proton tunneling occurs below −253.15 °C (20 K, −423.67 °F) giving rise to macroscopic quantum phenomena. Virtually all ice on Earth's surface and in its atmosphere is of a hexagonal crystalline structure denoted as ice Ih (spoken as "ice one h") with minute traces of cubic ice, denoted as ice Ic and, more recently found, Ice VII inclusions in diamonds. The most common phase transition to ice Ih occurs when liquid water is cooled below 0 °C (273.15 K, 32 °F) at standard atmospheric pressure. It may also be deposited directly by water vapor, as happens in the formation of frost. The transition from ice to water is melting and from ice directly to water vapor is sublimation.
Ice is used in a variety of ways, including for cooling, for winter sports, and ice sculpting.

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  1. Greg Bernhardt

    Sprinkle soil on the ice wall around driveway?

    I have 5 feet of compacted snow/ice walls hugging my driveway. A crazy thought went through my mind that I have extra bags of soil in my garage that are nearly black. I thought maybe I could melt the ice walls down and not hurt my lawn or driveway if I sprinkled that soil on the walls when it's...
  2. Ranger Mike

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  3. H

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  4. TonyCross

    Kinetic-Potential energy of moving Ice

    Hi, Am i correct in thinking that if we take a block of ice, moving at a constant velocity, it's then exposed to a heat source which melts the ice and turns it into water vapour, that we have simply removed any Kinetic energy, by Sublimation or converting it into heat. My question is does the...
  5. R

    Problem about a block of ice melting (specific latent heat)

    Energy lost by water = Energy gained by ice Energy lost by water = 0.16 x 4200 x (100-t) Energy gained by ice = 0.205 x L + 0.205 x (t) (where t is the temperature at thermal equilibrium). However, there does not appear to be enough info to continue. The solution, however, considered t to be...
  6. C

    The Entropy Change of Melting Ice: Why is the Equation Written as ΔS = Q/T?

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  7. A

    I Ice in space, sublimation time

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  8. A

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  9. DarkEnergy890

    The Mystery of Heat Loss: Examining Ice Melting Without Heat Loss

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  10. Astronuc

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  11. F

    I Can you detect the Earth's Rotation Using a Hockey Puck on Ice?

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  12. D

    I Is it cooler hanging ice packs from a fishnet bag or in a thermal lunch-bag?

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  13. A

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  14. Pouyan

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  15. P

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  16. A

    I Video of radiation on space ice

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  17. W

    Heat Engine Efficiency: How Ice Water Affects Performance

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  18. bluesteels

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  20. S

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  21. Astronuc

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  22. M

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  23. G

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  24. G

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  25. I

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  29. N

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  30. kippert

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  31. M

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  32. J

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  33. L

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  34. ayans2495

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  35. gabriel barata

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  36. A

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  37. lola1227

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  38. danielhaish

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  39. T

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  40. S

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  41. Z

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  42. Tom Booth

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  43. I

    Different Temperatures of Ice versus the Refractive Index

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  44. nuky999

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  45. I

    Question about thermal physics -- Ice cubes melting in water

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  46. il postino

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  47. Yeahaight

    Amount of heat = 80 kJ -- how much ice can you melt?

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  48. NTL2009

    Automotive Design Factors for ICE Peak HP versus RPM?

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  49. B

    Why do I observe ice formation on the exterior of this pipeline?

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  50. Y

    Entropy change when melting ice then refreezing the water

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