STRANGE BEHAVIOR OF WATER 



47 



stances contract on solidifying; gelatin and jelly, for example, 

 contract so much that they shrink from the sides of the dish 

 which contains them. 



If water contracted in freezing, ice would be heavier than 

 water and would sink in ponds and lakes as fast as it formed, 

 and our streams and ponds would become masses of solid ice, 

 killing all animal and plant life. But the ice is lighter than 



FIG. 24. Molten glass being rolled into a form suitable for window panes. 



water and floats on top, and animals in the water beneath are 

 as free to live and swim as they are in the warm sunny days 

 of summer. The most severe winter cannot freeze a deep 

 lake solid, and in the coldest weather a hole made in the ice 

 will show water beneath the surface. Our ice boats cut and 

 break the ice of the river, and through the water beneath our 

 boats daily ply their way to and fro, independent of winter 

 and its blighting blasts. 



