This is why an iceberg floats. The iceberg is less dense than the surrounding water. If water behaved the way most other liquids did, water would freeze as ice and sink to the bottom of lakes and the ocean. Once frozen, the water would tend not to melt completely since it would be insulated by the water above. This behavior of water is also the origin of a common misconception about the way in which ice damages living tissue.
People imagine that cells burst like soda bottles that have been left in the freezer too long.
Cells, unlike a soda bottle, can tolerate quite large volumes changes, expanding and contracting in response to changing osmotic conditions. Cells could easily tolerate the volume change caused by conversion of liquid water to ice. Instead, cells are damaged by dehydration and shrinkage caused by extracellular water freezing out as ice. Weighing balance 2. Glass beakers 4.