Colin Calder wrote: > Clyde wrote: > >What's the difference between ice floes and ice bergs? > ice floes are frozen salt water - ie frozen seas. > ice bergs are frozen fresh water - blocks of ice carved off the end of > glaciers. > Very important distinction if you like ice in your G&Ts. Well, this depends on the "age" of the floe, I have heard. If frozen very slowly, the crystal structure of ice tends to exclude salt, so the freshly-formed floe-ice is much lower in salt than the proportion of salt in sea water would suggest. (No, it would not be salt-free; and, no, I would not expect it to be potable.) In addition, over time, the floe-ice "loses" salt, apparently because the portions containing salt are somewhat more fluid-like (salt depresses the freezing point), permitting the salt to "diffuse" away from the relatively pure ice structure. Anybody recently melted a floe, to test this hoary information? -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR chemist *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Nov 30 1998 - 16:47:47 PST
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