After finishing a yummy cold drink on a hot day, have you ever noticed that the ice cubes at the bottom of your glass turn into water after a little while? Why does ice become water, and why does water become ice?!
The reason that ice and water switch places so much is that ice is water in its frozen form! Did you know that water could take on different forms?? Here’s how it works:
The water you are probably the most familiar with is liquid water, which appears smooth and clear and is in a state where it could fit itself into the shape of any container your poured it in. What you can’t see when you look at water is that it’s actually made up of lots and lots of tiny particles. (Awesome!)
These tiny particles move around when water is in its liquid form, but as the temperature gets lower and colder, they slow down and move less. Eventually, if it’s cold enough, they move so little that they stick together and change from liquid water to water in its solid form… ice!
Ice melts because when the temperature warms up, the particles separate and start shifting around again, eventually moving around enough that they turn back into liquid!