Ice is water frozen into the solid state. It can appear transparent or opaque bluish-white color, depending on the presence of impurities or air inclusions. The addition of other materials such as soil may further alter the appearance.
Ice appears in nature in forms of snowflakes, hail, icicles, glaciers, pack ice, frost, and entire polar ice caps. It is an important component of the global climate, and plays an important role in the water cycle. Furthermore, ice has numerous cultural applications, from ice cooling of drinks to winter sports and the art of ice sculpting.
The molecules in solid ice may be arranged in different ways, called phases, depending on the temperature and pressure. Usually ice is the phase known as ice Ih, which is the most abundant of the varying solid phases on the Earth's surface. The most common phase transition to ice Ih occurs when liquid water is cooled below 0°C (273.15K, 32°F) at standard atmospheric pressure. It can also deposit from vapour with no intervening liquid phase, such as in the formation of frost.
The word is derived from Old English īs, which in turn stems from Proto-Germanic isaz.
Read more about Ice: Characteristics, Formation, Production, Ice and Transportation, Phases, Other Ices
Other articles related to "ice, ices":
... Blížkovice - Bohutice - Bojanovice - Borotice - Boskovštejn - Božice - Břežany - Čejkovice - Čermákovice - Černín - Chvalatice - Chvalovice - Citonice - Ctidružice - Damnice - Dobelice ...
... moraines are created by debris accumulated on top of glacial ice ... This debris can accumulate due to ice flow toward the surface in the ablation zone, melting of surface ice or from debris that falls onto the glacier from valley ...
... other volatile substances are also referred to as ices generally a volatile is classed as an ice if its melting point lies above ~100 K ... The best known example is dry ice, the solid form of carbon dioxide ... A "magnetic analogue" of ice is also realized in some insulating magnetic materials in which the magnetic moments mimic the position of protons in water ice and obey energetic constraints ...
... The 2004 Men's Ice Hockey Championships were held April 24-May 9, 2004, in Prague and Ostrava, Czech Republic ... Games for this Ice Hockey World Championships tournament were played at Sazka Arena and ČEZ Aréna ...
... An iceberg is a large piece of freshwater ice that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open water ... It may subsequently become frozen into pack ice (one form of sea ice) ... it may come into contact with the seabed, a process referred to as seabed gouging by ice ...
Famous quotes containing the word ice:
“Will lovely, lively, virginal today
Shatter for us with a wing’s drunken blow
This hard, forgotten lake haunted in snow
By the sheer ice of flocks not flown away!”
—Stéphane Mallarmé (1842–1898)
“Suddenly I saw the cold and rook-delighting heaven
That seemed as though ice burned and was but the more ice,”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“We may prepare food for our children, chauffeur them around, take them to the movies, buy them toys and ice cream, but nothing registers as deeply as a simple squeeze, cuddle, or pat on the back. There is no greater reassurance of their lovability and worth than to be affectionately touched and held.”
—Stephanie Martson (20th century)