Question on the molecular level..

[Hades]

I dont know whether this belongs in here but this has been weighing on my thoughts recently.

 

 

 

Imagine a sheet of ice only a millimeter thick. If i throw a rock at this sheet of ice, obviously the ice will shatter. But how does it shatter on the atomic level? If we could see individual molecules, then what happens at the breaking point? What im asking, does the energy from the rock transfer into the chemical bonds releasing them from one another thus allowing the ice to break apart? Or do the molecules remain intact, being moved by the force of the rock?

[Cookie]

I'm not sure - perhaps someone else knows more, but I think the individual molecules remain intact (i.e. you still have water at the end, not oxygen and hydrogen). Probably what happens is that the force of the rock hitting the ice breaks up the hydrogen bonding in the ice crystal lattice, causing the crystal to shatter.

 

Cookie

[JaKiri]

It won't be broken on the intramolecular level, it'll be broken on the intermolecular level, which is much less energy intensive.

[greg1917]

In this specific example hydrogen bonds between H2O molecules will be broken due to the strain of the rock impact on the ice, not chemical bonds between hydrogen and oxygen. There would be absolutely no hydrogen or oxygen produced.

[YT2095]

at best, some local heating due to frictional forces from the impact