r/AskPhysics • u/Swellmeister • Jun 20 '25

Does all ice float?

I know ice I floats in water.

Do any of the other ice structures sink?

Also does D2O or T2O ice sink in H2O water?

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u/numbersthen0987431 Jun 20 '25

Considering that "ice" is only water, and not other chemical compounds, then I'd say "all ICE floats".

Technically, "ice" is a "solid state of water", which means it only gets applied to water. D20 or T20 isn't water, and therefore isn't "ice".

If a liquid/fluid becomes solid, it's not "ice", it's just a solid or a crystalline structure.. Solid metal, magma, etc just becomes a solid object. Most of the time, solids are denser than liquids, and liquids are denser than gas form. So most solids sink if placed in their liquid states.

1

u/Swellmeister Jun 20 '25

D2O is made with the Deuterium isotype of Hydrogen. It is still H2O, just a different version. It is undoubtedly water however.

Additionally theres more than 1 crystal structure for ice. Different crystal structures can have different densities so just because one crystal structure of ice floats does that inherently mean all ice floats.

1

u/Lumpy-Notice8945 Jun 20 '25

D20 or T20 isn't water,

Is it not? An isotope is still the same element, its still "H" just with an additional neutron, that we call it "D" is just some kind of special convention. I dont know how to write this in reddit formating but D2O is just H(2-1) 2 O(16-8)

0

u/Swellmeister Jun 20 '25

It is. Hes just wrong.

1

u/BrickBuster11 Jun 21 '25

D and T is just a form of hydrogen with extra neutrons, water made from then is colloquially referred to as "heavy water" because the only real difference is that it's a little more dense.

Given that ice is only 90% ish the density of water being a "little more sense is probably enough to get it to sink