Ice

You can go skating on ice, and that can be fun.

But what is ice? Ice is very, very cold water!

Water is made up of tiny, tiny, tiny little water molecules. Water molecules are called H 2 0, which looks like this.

Yay for H 2 0!

Water can be liquid—we call this liquid water.

If water gets very hot, like when somebody puts a pot of water on the stove, it boils,

and if it gets even hotter than that, it makes steam.

But what happens when water gets cold? Water freezes solid, like a rock—which we call ice, or water ice.

Water turns to steam when it is 212 degrees—that is hot!

But water freezes, and turns to ice at 32 degrees—that’s cold enough for hat and mittens.

Take some water,

put it into an ice cube tray,

wait for the water to freeze, and out come ice cubes!

We use ice cubes to keep a drink cold.

If the air is warm, like it is in the house, an ice cube will melt. That means the ice turns back into water!

If you put many ice cubes in warm air, they will melt, and become liquid again.

Other things can melt, and become liquid; butter can melt.

When the weather gets warm, snow and ice melts. First, it becomes slush,

and then it becomes water.

Ice can be very pretty, like when icicles hang from a house,

or when ice covers tree branches.

Sometimes, rain freezes when it is falling. This is called freezing rain.

This coats everything with ice, which can be pretty,

but it can also cover power lines.

and that can make the power go out!

In the winter, when it gets very cold,

creeks can freeze over,

and rivers can freeze over,

and lakes can freeze over—so people can even drive on them, sometimes!

Roads can get icy in winter,

and that can cause accidents!

You can slip and fall when you walk on ice!

So be careful!

Glaciers are made of ice.

Glaciers flow down valleys like rivers of ice.

There is ice at the North Pole, filling up the Arctic Ocean,

and ice covers Antarctica and Greenland, too.

You know what ice is good for making? Ice cream!

The End