The ice in your freezer is a homebody. It is just one form of ice — the only one that forms at the pressure and temperature of an ordinary kitchen.
Scientists have identified more than 20 forms of ice. Most of them exist only where conditions get extreme: crushed under enormous pressure, or frozen far colder than any winter night. Some are so dense they would sink in a glass of water instead of floating. A few may not exist naturally on Earth at all outside a laboratory — astronomers think forms like them fill the deep interiors of icy moons and giant planets, locked in under miles of pressure.
Same water. Same two hydrogens and one oxygen. Just arranged into different crystals when the world squeezes hard enough.
Here is the part that matters at home: your one form of ice has a quirk almost no other substance shares. It expands as it freezes. That is why ice floats — and why water trapped inside a pipe can split that pipe wide open on a cold night. Drain your outdoor spigots before the first hard freeze.
Want the full tour of water’s many forms, from a snowflake to the inside of Neptune? Read the long version here: https://acquaphilter.com/how-many-forms-does-water-have-more-than-you-think/
Facts first, then filter. — Steve
Inspired by the Water Quality Association‘s Friday Fact
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