Actually, fresh water (like any material on the macro scale) contracts as it gets colder, but it has this peculiar anomaly: it expands when it actually goes through the phase-shift from liquid to ice, because of the particular ordering of the molecules when crystallizing. This is a very important fact in our life-systems. For example, it keeps the ice on the top of deep fresh lakes, so fish can survive down below.

Anyway, jpk, your rebuttal is not with me, but with Dr. Noerdlinger. Perhaps if you look into what he says it will be clearer why he says it.

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