Question: if hot water turns into gas then what does cold water turn into

Rosie Coates answered on 10 Mar 2014:

The great thing about water is that we can turn it into lots of things depending on what we do to it.

You might have heard water described as H2O. This is because water is made of 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atoms. We describe this as one molecule of water and a glass of water will have billions of molecules of water in it. These molecules are stuck together by invisible glue we call forces of attraction. In a liquid like water the molecules are stuck together pretty tightly but they can move around. Hot water turns into gas because it has been heated which gives the molecules of water energy so the forces of attraction between the molecules are broken and they can move around more. The hotter the molecules get the more they can move and eventually they are moving around so fast these forces of attraction break altogether and the water molecules evaporate and become a gas we call steam.

When we cool water down the opposite of this happens. The molecules in the water slow down, stop moving around so much and become much more organised. If we cool them down enough they move so slowly they become a solid we call ice.