# Shouldn't ice be less dense than liquid water? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 26, 2010, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shouldnt-ice-be-less-dense-than-liquid-water/533851 "2010-03-26T07:28:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shouldnt-ice-be-less-dense-than-liquid-water/533851/1 "2010-03-26T07:28:11Z")
Inspired by the latest Mythbusters in which they throw soda cups at windshields at high speed. In their experiment, the lowest mass cup has simply soda, the middle mass has soda with ice cubes, and the most massive has a slushy mix. As far as I know, ice is less dense than liquid water. Is this a result of a greater volume, or perhaps the extra solvents in water that comprise soda? ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shouldnt-ice-be-less-dense-than-liquid-water/533851/2 "2010-03-26T07:42:51Z")
Maybe all the bubbles in the soda made it less dense than you would expect from regular water? Also, if it’s a slushy brand slushy, the syrup used to make it is probably more dense than soda+ice. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shouldnt-ice-be-less-dense-than-liquid-water/533851/3 "2010-03-26T12:06:10Z")
Either they were wrong or you misunderstood: ice\* is\* less dense than soda. Just do the experiment and observe for yourself - put a few cubes in a glass of soda. They do not sink; they float. ---
**Author:** ![Baracus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@Baracus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baracus)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shouldnt-ice-be-less-dense-than-liquid-water/533851/4 "2010-03-26T12:15:20Z")
Well, cold soda will be more dense than warm soda. I don’t know if the effect is great enough to make the total soda+ice system more dense than warm soda on its own. I am sure that someone enterprising enough could run the calculation with some assumptions on the ratio of soda to ice. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shouldnt-ice-be-less-dense-than-liquid-water/533851/5 "2010-03-26T12:20:51Z")
Since soda is mostly water it would be most dense at more or less the same temperature as pure water, which is +4 C. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shouldnt-ice-be-less-dense-than-liquid-water/533851/6 "2010-03-26T12:22:04Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > Since soda is mostly water it would be most dense at more or less the same temperature as pure water, which is +4 C. Best user name/thread title combo. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shouldnt-ice-be-less-dense-than-liquid-water/533851/7 "2010-03-26T13:55:31Z")
A solid piece of ice would do more damage than a cup of ice cubes and water. Due to the mass being in one piece it would not dissipate its energy on impact but apply the full force of the mass to the windshield.