Icebergs float because water has its highest density at four degrees Celsius - actually quite unusual (Copyright: Michael Haferkamp, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12761708)
Water is liquid at room temperature - astounding for such a small molecule. Insights into the causes are provided by a new simulation method, which has its origins in brain research. Using artificial neural networks, researchers in Bochum and Vienna have examined the atomic interactions of water molecules. Based on their findings, they explain the melting temperature of ice and the density maximum at four degrees Celsius - based solely on computer simulations. The newly developed method is just as precise as quantum mechanical calculations, but is 100.000 times faster. The teams of Jörg Behler of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum and Christoph Dellago of the University of Vienna describe the work in the journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" (PNAS). Water has a number of properties that cannot be understood solely on the basis of its chemical composition.
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