Thermal Expansion of Ice

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Abstract
Linear thermal expansion coefficients of natural and artificial single ice crystals, commercial ice, and snow ice were determined in the temperature range near 0 to −30°C. There was no measurable difference in the coefficients of linear thermal expansion parallel and normal to the c axis of single crystals or polycrystalline ice. However a steady decrease of expansion coefficients with each succeeding measurement on the same ice specimen was observed. The total decrease was of the order of 2×10−6, while an estimated error calculation yielded a value of about 4×10−7. An entirely satisfactory explanation of this phenomenon cannot be given at this time, and further investigation on this point would be desirable. Values of Cv, the specific heat at constant volume, were calculated from thermodynamic relationships. Average Cp/Cv values were 1.030. Gruneisen's constant was found to average 0.78, and essentially independent of temperature between 0°C and −30°C.