Water

Water is a fascinating, mysterious, remarkable chemical compound, a blue force of beautiful life (water is not clear; it has a blue tint to it) that pervades the earth and is central to life.  It is a substance of sheer beauty; it is earthly; it is heavenly.  Over 2/3’s of our earth’s surface is covered by liquid water.  Over 1/20th of the planet is covered by ice.  Water is a constantly moving force that shapes our environment.  It chisels coastlines, sculpts rocks, forms valleys.  Water in its 3 states of solid, liquid and vapor is a unique substance.  Water performs a great many functions (e.g. transports, moistens, lubricates, protects, nourishes and much more).  Though abundant, it is anything but simple. In fact, it is odd.  It has some peculiar properties.  Water is bent (i.e. has an overall bent structure).  The 2 bonds between oxygen and hydrogen are splayed.  Also, unlike all other liquids, water freezes from the top down, and when it freezes it floats.

There is more water on earth than anywhere else in the universe as far as we know.  The earth holds approximately 326 million trillion gallons (326,000,000,000,000,000,000).  Water is the most important resource on the planet.  Our human biology is mostly water – we are 2/3’s or almost 70% water.  Our brains are 75% water.  A living tree is 75% water.  The water that is here on earth today is the water that has been here since the beginning.  It gets recycled – the only thing that changes is the form water takes.  Though the amount of water on earth is set, it is a continuous exchange or circulation of water cycling between the oceans, the land and the atmosphere.

Water is often referred to as “the universal solvent” and the “matrix of life.” Water is essential to sustain life.  Water is in all living things, whether they’re at the bottom of the sea or in the hottest desert.  Water dissolves more things than any other liquid.  Water regulates the earth’s temperature and it also regulates the temperature of the human body.  Water’s versatility and adaptability help support important chemical reactions.  Water is the body’s refined transportation agent.  It is a lubricant and shock absorber for the body.  Humans can fast from food for a month or even longer, but we can only live about 3 to 4 days without water.  Water is so critically important to body processes that without it, in a short time a person will become dehydrated and suffer organ failure and then die.

Water is abundant, but it is anything but ordinary.  It is actually weird.  It acts like an adhesive but can also act like a lubricant.  It has a high heat capacity.  Typically a solid is denser than a liquid, but liquid water is more dense (about 10% more) than ice.  Liquid water is different from other liquids.  Water has the necessary requirements to sustain life.  Liquid water encompasses a temperature range suitable to sustain organic life.

The water cycle (also known as hydrologic cycle) describes the continuous movement of water above, below and on earth’s surface.  We don’t see it, but the air is full of water.  The ballet of floating clouds above us are beautiful formations.  They are an essential part of the phenomenon of earth’s water cycle. They play a major part in earth’s climatic system.  They form a fog containing a vast amount of water.  The clouds dancing at high altitude aren’t solid.  They’re a form of water we can see.  Condensation (the opposite of evaporation) is responsible for cloud formation which is the process of water vapor turning back into liquid water.  When water droplets and clouds come together, they become heavy enough to form raindrops which are released as rain. Clouds may appear fluffy and weightless, but they can hold enormous masses of water in suspension.  An average white fluffy cloud on a sunny day can weigh an amazing 1.1 million pounds (around 551 tons, about the weight of 5 adult blue whales, the largest animal on the planet!).  It takes about a million tiny cloud droplets to make just 1 raindrop.