Cool Facts About Ice

At Scotsman Ice Systems we are passionate about all things ice, in many ways, life on Earth depends on ice. This is because it provides most of the world’s fresh water supply, which keeps global sea levels from rising disastrously. Here are a few more interesting and super cool facts about ice, both on our planet and beyond.

Earth is not the only place where ice exist.

Water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen, which can be found in our solar system. Based on a planets proximity to the Sun, different planets in the solar system have different amounts of water. Those that are furthest from the Sun, like Saturn and Jupiter have much more water than those closer to the Sun, like Earth, Mars and Mercury where high temperatures made it harder for hydrogen and oxygen to form water molecules. The planets furthest from the sun have several icy moons.

Ice Volcano Exists

One of Saturn’s moons, has a very curious feature. This moon contains “cryovolcanoes” which is an exotic type of geyser that spews ice instead of magma. This occurs when ice deep under the surface gets heated and is then turned into a vapor that erupts into the moon’s chilly atmosphere as ice particles. Making these cool ice volcanos.

Dry Ice Is Not Made Of Water

Dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide. It changes from its solid form to gas when it is room temperature and pressure without going through a liquid state. Dry ice is very useful for keeping things cold because it freezes at 109.3 degrees Fahrenheit.

Water Tends To Be More Dense Than Ice.

Water and ice are made of the same stuff, however the molecules are arranged differently depending on what state they are in, either a liquid or solid state. In its liquid state, water molecules fill in gaps and are packed more closely together than ice, which makes ice less dense and therefore able to float on water. Although in the case of heavy water ice (this is when the hydrogen atoms have a proton and a neutron, as opposed to just the proton in normal hydrogen) does sink. This happens because the water molecules themselves become heavier thanks to the heavier hydrogen atoms, and the hydrogens form stronger bonds.