Water behaves differently than almost all other liquids because it expands when it is frozen. As a liquid is cooled down the molecules move more slowly allowing the attractive forces between them to become stronger. Eventually, these forces become strong enough to hold the molecules in a fixed position (they can still vibrate but not change their relative positions) and the liquid becomes a solid. The molecules in the solid have reached an optimum 'closeness' …
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showed last 75 words of 272 total
…bond is at least 10 times stronger than the other types of attractive forces that hold molecules together. The maximum number of hydrogen bonds a water molecule can form is 4 and in ice each water molecule is doing just that. Water expands to around 9-10% its original volume. So the attractive forces are maximized even though the molecules are forming a very open lattice structure, causing the water to expand and form a block of ice.