# How much will water expand as it gets colder? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 19, 2015, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-will-water-expand-as-it-gets-colder/728297 "2015-08-19T23:54:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-will-water-expand-as-it-gets-colder/728297/1 "2015-08-19T23:54:37Z")
I know that water will contract as it cools until it gets to about 4 degrees celsius and then as it cools it begins to expand again. After it freezes, how long does it continue to expand as it gets colder? Does it get to a maximum size and then stop expanding? Does that happen at a specific temperature? Does it ever contract again as it gets colder? ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-will-water-expand-as-it-gets-colder/728297/2 "2015-08-20T01:24:53Z")
A Google image search for “density of water” will show you plots with the relevant numbers. It’s most dense around 4 °C IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-will-water-expand-as-it-gets-colder/728297/3 "2015-08-20T04:29:56Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > A Google image search for “density of water” will show you plots with the relevant numbers. It’s most dense around 4 °C IIRC. OP is asking about ice, not water. Here’s a chart I found with some sample values of the density of ice at given temperatures. As you can see, ice is less dense at higher temperatures: ```auto -100 0.9257 - 90 0.9249 - 80 0.9241 - 70 0.9233 - 60 0.9224 - 50 0.9216 - 40 0.9208 - 30 0.9200 - 20 0.9194 - 10 0.9189 0 0.9162 ```