There is a great deal of ice floating on the ocean near the north pole. If this ice were to melt due to global warming, what would happen to the level of the oceans?
A.Rise
B.Fall
C.Remain the same
water is slightly more dense than water, but when the ice melts it will have the same density.
I think the answer is rise, but am unsure. Please help and explain if you can.
Here is a great experiment you can do right now:
fill a glass 3/4 full of water, add ice cubes to the glass until full, put water with a spoon until the glass almost overflows (be careful). Wipe the side of the glass carefully of any water spilled. Now let the ice cubes melt, and see if the water level changed.
Amazing. You will know more than many global experts.
The answer is C. Think about it. Floating ice displaces an amount of water equal to the volume of water after the ice melts.
You're on the right track! The melting of ice floating on the ocean, such as the ice near the North Pole, does indeed have an impact on the level of the oceans.
To understand why, it's important to consider how ice is formed and how it behaves when it melts. Ice is formed by freezing sea water, and because it contains salt, it is less dense than pure water. This means that a given volume of ice has less mass than the same volume of liquid water.
When this ice melts, it goes through a phase change from a solid to a liquid. During this phase change, the volume of water remains the same. So, if you were to take a fixed amount of ice and let it melt, the resulting liquid water would occupy the same volume as the original ice.
However, what's important to note is that when ice is floating in the ocean, it has displaced an equivalent volume of water, which is equal to the volume of the submerged portion of the ice. So when this ice melts, the volume of water it occupies is already accounted for.
Therefore, the melting of floating ice does not directly contribute to a rise in ocean levels. The level of the oceans will remain the same because the ice has already displaced an equivalent volume of water. This is represented by answer choice C: Remain the same.
However, it's worth noting that global warming can affect other forms of ice, such as ice sheets and glaciers, which are on land and not already displacing water. When these land-based ice masses melt, they do contribute to the rise in sea levels.