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Originally Posted by Theodoric
The water level will stay the same. The upthrust on the floating ice equals the weight of water dispaced (Archimedes Principle). As the ice is floating, the upthrust equals the weight of the ice (the ice would either sink or rise if it wasn't). Therefore the weight of water displaced equals the weight of ice. Therefore when the ice melts it is converted into a weight of water equal to the weight of water displaced by the ice. Therefore it exactly fills the "hole" you can imagine left by the melted ice, so there is no change in water level.
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Absolutely correct.
A very interesting article with some experiments to prove the facts at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/blueplan...eriments.shtml
WARNING If you are worried about the effect of the ice caps melting and live within a couple of hundred feet of sea level then DO NOT read that article.