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
Famous quotes containing the word ice:
“The improved American highway system ... isolated the American-in-transit. On his speedway ... he had no contact with the towns which he by-passed. If he stopped for food or gas, he was served no local fare or local fuel, but had one of Howard Johnson’s nationally branded ice cream flavors, and so many gallons of Exxon. This vast ocean of superhighways was nearly as free of culture as the sea traversed by the Mayflower Pilgrims.”
—Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914)
“The awaited scream rises,
the shattering
of glass and the cracking
of bone
a polar tumult as when
black ice booms....”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)
“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)