Skid said..JayG said..
As far as physics theory is concerned,
....but once it becomes ice the cubes are all separated and are smaller than when they were water...
......
I beg to differ. When water freezes it expands. Hence ice, being less dense (albeit harder) than water will float in water.
Suspect the extra pain is just because the water feels colder.

Well you are right about the ice and i suppose it was a bad example (caused by my own stupidity). the cooling of water is far more complicated than i explained above, which was an attempt at keeping it simple.
Fresh water becomes denser as it becomes colder UNTIL it reaches 4 degrees Celsius, at which stage its density begins to decrease rapidly.
Water, i think, is the only element that behaves in this matter
HOWEVER
Because this water would never get to 4 degrees, the density, and therefore 'Hardness' of the water would always be increased by a decrease in temperature.
The water is harder when it is colder.