Why Does Water Expand When Frozen?

[north]

i'm just curious if anyone has any idea what water IS.now i know the chemistry h2o,however this is not what i mean. if i separate the three atoms nothing that we now of, other than the atoms themselves, manifests it's self. however once we bring the three atoms together we get a drop of water,so we know the mechanics of why and how but does anyone know the qualitative WHAT? it is. what is the liquid the manifestation of? is it magnetism focused? and that it expands when frozen? just guessing here people. and i would think that the drop would surround the three atoms so that they are submerged within this drop of liquid manifestation.

 

[Monique]

Actually you need 6 H2O molecules to get the properties of water. What the liquid is a manifestation of? Intermolecular forces?

 

[Gokul43201]

...what is the liquid the manifestation of? is it magnetism focused? and that it expands when frozen? just guessing here people. and i would think that the drop would surround the three atoms so that they are submerged within this drop of liquid manifestation.

If you have a question, I think you'd be better served if you state clearly what your question is. If you are proposing some theory, then you should post in Theory Development, under General Physics.

At this point, what you have written makes little or no sense.

 

[north]

if it takes 6 h2o for properties of water to come forth,then what happens with just 1 h2o? it could be intermolecular forces but how? what is the geometry of this molecule? and also,hydrogen and oxygen can become liquids at sufficiently low enough temperature on there own. i think that there is something that is going on inbetween the nucleous of the atom and it's electron shell. and that the coming together of hydrogen and oxygen atoms raises the liquefaction temperature. why expand when frozen? maybe when H&O2 come together they open a door so to speak at first which then closes when certain amount (energy?) is released. and when frozen can't go back, is blocked for some reason.or it just came to me,maybe more liquid is released but only so much because the temperature is not low enough to release more,plus perhaps boundries are set up. maybe both H&O2 also can act as a catalyst in both temperature directions.

 

[Monique]

What are you asking?

Water is a very polar substance because it's a dipole, the electrons are not distributed evenly between the oxygen and the two hydrogens. Water is very good at forming hydrogen bonds (a type of dipole-dipole interaction where a hydrogen atom is bonded to an electronegative atom, like oxygen), these hydrogen bonds cause water to expand when it freezes into a crystalline structure. Normally the water molecules undergo hydrogen bonding, which breaks again due to thermal motion so in a liquid state the water molecules can get close together. When the thermal energy decreases to a certain point, hydrogen bonds become more permanent and the distance increases.