Why does water expand when it is being frozen?

Question: Why does water expand when it is being frozen?
- Keywords:
  chemistry,
  expansion,
  freeze,
  water
Asked by jamesat79 to Jess on 19 Jun 2013.
- Jess Bean answered on 19 Jun 2013:
  
  Thats a really good question!
  
  Water is a bit of a funny molecule. When normal liquids freeze they normally contract, as the molecules get closer together. When water freezes the molecules also get closer together, but they are able able to then attract each other when they get close. Each molecule is attracted to another molecule so a big honeycomb-like structure is formed, which has big air gaps in between them! They are the same number of molecules in a liquid but take up more space.

jamesat79 commented on 19 Jun 2013:

Thanks! Great, I didn’t know how it worked before but you explained it really well and clearly! 🙂

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Question: Why does water expand when it is being frozen?