Chemistry discussion

Question

How have you encountered water in its different stages of matter over the last week? How do molecules behave in ice versus tap water? How are these behaviors similar, and how are they different in the three different forms of water? Why do these behaviors occur?

Answer 1

I've experienced water in the form of steam, liquid, and ice in the last week. The molecules move very fast in the gaseous form, slower in the liquid form, and are held in a rigid crystalline structure in ice. This is because "heat" essentially measures the movement of molecules, with more heat meaning more movement. When the heat is high, the molecules fly around more or less independently. At lower heat, intermolecular interactions (e.g. hydrogen bonds) hold the water molecules together in a liquid form. The liquid can flow and change shape because there is enough heat energy in the water to allow the molecules to move around relative to one another, breaking bonds with some of their neighbors, only to form similar bonds with new neighboring molecules as the water flows. In ice, the minimal amount of energy is insufficient to break intermolecular bonds and the molecules form a crystalline lattice. The energy is not zero, unless you've managed to lower the temperature to the theoretical minimum of 0 kelvin, but it is low enough for the molecules to be stationary relative to one another.