Ice – An Amazing Substance

Music; Ambience: Ice floes

Ice is a unique, remarkable material. We’ll hear about some of its properties and find out why ice behaves the way it does. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet. Mariana Gosnell is the author of “Ice: the Nature, History and Uses of an Astonishing Substance.”

“It floats in its own melt, or its own liquid. And that is really very uncommon. And that is because of the way that the crystals are formed. Oxygen and hydrogen, H20 form hexagons, sub-microscopic hexagons. Many of them in rows and layers so they look like chicken wire fence. But in the middle of each hexagon is blank space. And that’s why it’s buoyant. It’s nine percent lighter in solid than it is in liquid. One of the other things is that ice is, even though it seems very cold, it is actually, in its own terms, warm. By that I mean it is very close to its melting point at all times. It’s at least within 50 degrees, at the most extreme cases of its melting point and rocks and steel are up to 3000 degrees from their melting point, and this makes a big difference. It’s one reason that now we see it, now we don’t. It’s one reason why it can be very strong and very weak, why it can last a very long time and be something that lasts only a few minutes.”

Ice can also produce some rather amazing sounds. Here’s the sound of two Arctic ice floes rubbing against each other. To hear more about remarkable natural sounds check out our CD on pulseplanet.com. Pulse of the Planet is made possible by the National Science Foundation.

Ice - An Amazing Substance

We explore some of the secrets behind ice's unusual properties.

Air Date:01/16/2009

Scientist:

Transcript:

Ice - An Amazing Substance

Music; Ambience: Ice floes

Ice is a unique, remarkable material. We'll hear about some of its properties and find out why ice behaves the way it does. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet. Mariana Gosnell is the author of "Ice: the Nature, History and Uses of an Astonishing Substance."

"It floats in its own melt, or its own liquid. And that is really very uncommon. And that is because of the way that the crystals are formed. Oxygen and hydrogen, H20 form hexagons, sub-microscopic hexagons. Many of them in rows and layers so they look like chicken wire fence. But in the middle of each hexagon is blank space. And that's why it's buoyant. It's nine percent lighter in solid than it is in liquid. One of the other things is that ice is, even though it seems very cold, it is actually, in its own terms, warm. By that I mean it is very close to its melting point at all times. It's at least within 50 degrees, at the most extreme cases of its melting point and rocks and steel are up to 3000 degrees from their melting point, and this makes a big difference. It's one reason that now we see it, now we don't. It's one reason why it can be very strong and very weak, why it can last a very long time and be something that lasts only a few minutes."

Ice can also produce some rather amazing sounds. Here's the sound of two Arctic ice floes rubbing against each other. To hear more about remarkable natural sounds check out our CD on pulseplanet.com. Pulse of the Planet is made possible by the National Science Foundation.