Why does ice melt?

Everything Water

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by Mya Kagan (whyzz writer) >> more about the author

After finishing a yummy cold drink on a hot day, have you ever noticed that the ice cubes at the bottom of your glass turn into water after a little while? Why does ice become water, and why does water become ice?!

The reason that ice and water switch places so much is that ice is water in its frozen form! Did you know that water could take on different forms?? Here’s how it works:

The water you are probably the most familiar with is liquid water, which appears smooth and clear and is in a state where it could fit itself into the shape of any container your poured it in. What you can’t see when you look at water is that it’s actually made up of lots and lots of tiny particles. (Awesome!)

These tiny particles move around when water is in its liquid form, but as the temperature gets lower and colder, they slow down and move less. Eventually, if it’s cold enough, they move so little that they stick together and change from liquid water to water in its solid form… ice!

Ice melts because when the temperature warms up, the particles separate and start shifting around again, eventually moving around enough that they turn back into liquid!

Ice Age

To see for yourself the way that water and ice are the same thing in different forms, try out this experiment!

Pour some water into a cup, and then put it in the freezer. After a few hours, take the cup out of the freezer and look at what has happened – that liquid water has frozen into ice!

Put the cup of frozen ice on a tabletop or windowsill, and wait another couple of hours. What has happened to the ice when you check on it later in the day? – It’s melted back into water!!

Try the experiment another time, but leave the frozen ice in a really sunny, hot place in the house. Does it melt into water more quickly than when you left it in a less hot place?? Why do think this happens?!