[...] When cooled from room temperature liquid water becomes increasingly dense, as with other substances, but at approximately 4 °C (39 °F), pure water reaches its maximum density. As it is cooled further, it expands to become less dense. This unusual negative thermal expansion is attributed to strong, orientation-dependent, intermolecular interactions and is also observed in molten silica.[21]
The solid form of most substances is denser than the liquid phase; thus, a block of most solids will sink in the liquid. However, a block of ice floats in liquid water because ice is less dense. Upon freezing, the density of water decreases by about 9%.[22] This is due to the 'cooling' of intermolecular vibrations allowing the molecules to form steady hydrogen bonds with their neighbors and thereby gradually locking into positions reminiscent of the hexagonal packing achieved upon freezing to ice Ih. Whereas the hydrogen bonds are shorter in the crystal than in the liquid, this locking effect reduces the average coordination number of molecules as the liquid approaches nucleation. Other substances that expand on freezing are acetic acid, silicon, gallium, germanium, antimony, bismuth, plutonium and also chemical compounds that form spacious crystal lattices with tetrahedral coordination.
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In cold countries, when the temperature of fresh water reaches 4 °C, the layers of water near the top in contact with cold air continue to lose heat energy and their temperature falls below 4 °C. On cooling below 4 °C, these layers do not sink as fresh water has a maximum density at 4 °C. Due to this, the layer of water at 4 °C remains at the bottom and above this layers of water colder than 4 °C are formed. As water at 0 °C is the least dense it floats on the top and turns into ice as the water continues to cool. Ice growth continues on the bottom of the ice as heat is drawn away through the ice (the heat conductivity of ice is similar to glass). All the while the water further down below the ice is still 4 °C. As the ice layer shields the lake from the effect of the wind, water in the lake will no longer turn over. Although both water and ice are relatively good conductors of heat, a thick layer of ice and a thick layer of stratified water under the ice slow down further heat loss from the lake relative to when the lake was exposed. It is, therefore, unlikely that sufficiently deep lakes will freeze completely, unless stirred by strong currents that mix cooler and warmer water and accelerate the cooling. Thus, as long as the pond or lake does not freeze up completely, aquatic creatures are not exposed to freezing temperatures. In warming weather, chunks of ice float, rather than sink to the bottom where they might melt extremely slowly. These properties therefore allow aquatic life in the lake to survive during the winter.