EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Anomalous expansion of water saves the aquatic life from freezing by maintaining the temperature of water. When water’s temperature drops below 4 degrees Celcius its density decreases because of which colder water is present on the surface of water and the water on the surface freezes.

Detailed explanation-2: -One of the unique properties of water is that it becomes less dense as its temperature decreases from 4° C until it freezes at 0° C. This allows many aquatic life forms to survive through the winter. If ice were more dense than water, it would freeze and sink over and over until the entire lake was frozen.

Detailed explanation-3: -Underneath the frozen upper layer, the water remains in its liquid form and do not get the freeze. Oxygen is trapped beneath the layer of ice. As a result, fish and other aquatic animals find it possible to live comfortably in the frozen ponds.

Detailed explanation-4: -Water is unique, however, because its solid state (ice) is actually less dense than its liquid phase, allowing walleye and other aquatic life the ability to survive underneath the ice in cold, but unfrozen waters each winter.

Detailed explanation-5: -And that means fish must be able to survive down here. This is due to a special property of water: the elasticity of H2O. We know that when the temperature sinks below freezing, water first contracts and then expands as it begins to turn to ice.