Jeff Shirton wrote:

"Morgans" wrote in message
...


If the water of the lake was all indeed at 32 degrees, it would all be a
giant ice cube. If it were all at 32.1 degrees, it would all be liquid.


Sorry, but wrong.

You seem to be basing your argument on "the freezing point of water is 32",
and assuming that this means that any H2O at 32 will be solid "frozen".

However, it is equally true that "the melting point of water is 32", which
means that when solid water gets to 32 degrees, it melts (at that temp.)
and becomes water (at that temp.)

But wait... This means that I'm trying to say that water can be both
solid *and* liquid at 32 F? Yes, definitely. It's a trick chemists use
all the time, as a mixture of ice and water will maintain a constant
temp. (of 32, both the ice and the water) until all of the ice melts.

Let me explain this way.

You have a body of water at 32.2 F. If you remove sufficient heat,
it cools to WATER at 32.1 F.

You have a body of water at 32.1 F. If you remove sufficient heat,
it cools to WATER at 32.0 F.

You have a body of water at 32.0 F. If you remove sufficient heat,
it cools to ICE at 32.0 F. The heat lost to change a substance
from liquid at the freezing point to solid AT THE SAME TEMP
is called the "latent heat of fusion". But the point is that during
the change of state, the temperature does not change. The temperature
remains the same.

That is to say, once water reaches the freezing point, it doesn't
"instantly" change to ice. More heat is needed to be released
until it to solidify, and the latent heat of fusion is *much* more
than the heat needed to be lost to reduce temp.


The wave action has nothing to do with it.


Actually, wave action is kinetic energy. And so a body of
water with wave action will contain more energy than a
stagnant body of water, and so more energy will be needed
to be lost for it to freeze.

And, to top it all off, I believe that 32F is the freezing point of pure
water. Almost anything added to water can affect the freezing point.
Just how clean is Lake MI anyway? :-)


Matt