{"id":2364,"date":"2025-05-29T14:22:25","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T18:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/earthmoves.vassarspaces.net\/?p=2364"},"modified":"2025-05-29T14:22:27","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T18:22:27","slug":"water-the-chemical-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earthmoves.vassarspaces.net\/?p=2364","title":{"rendered":"Water the Chemical of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Elixir<\/mark><\/strong>. H2<\/sub>O. The reason for life on Earth. We can’t live without it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image: https:\/\/www.aquaread.com\/blog\/marine-water-quality-importance\/<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Image: https:\/\/science.howstuffworks.com\/environmental\/earth\/geophysics\/h2o.htm<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Why is water the IT<\/mark><\/strong> chemical?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My love of water is why I became a scientist. I have always loved it. Always been fascinated. It’s amazing. Put it in a glass and it’s clear. Put it in an ocean and it’s blue in the day and silvery black at night. Put it in a lake and it’s green. When it’s frozen it’s white (or glacier blue) and clear or opaque. It’s basically a huge mood ring. We can see it, see through it, put our hands through it, or hold it in our hands. It can fill a container, or seep through things, or rise as a mist, or come down as drops or ice balls or snowflakes. We drink it and use it to cool off or warm up. We use it to clean just about everything. We need it to chew and swallow. Life evolved in it. It’s gentle and life-giving or it destroys and kills. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is water and what gives it such magical powers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water is a simple chemical molecule made up of an oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms. The molecule has a kind of electrical polarity<\/mark><\/strong>, kind of like a magnet, where one end is more negatively charged and the other end is more positively charged, which gives it a kinky shape and lots of functional power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of this electrical polarity<\/mark><\/strong>, water molecules orient themselves together, aligning negative regions towards positive regions of neighboring molecules, almost forming an undulating lattice of weak charged interactions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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These attractions make water molecules stick together- give water cohesion and adhesion. So, the surface of water really seems to hold together, think of insects striding on top of water. This is how water forms droplets. This is also how water makes its way against gravity up from the roots of a tree all the way to the top of the leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Without water cohesion and adhesion, plants would never have colonized land.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Image: https:\/\/digfir-published.macmillanusa.com\/tymoczko3e\/tymoczko3e_ch2_3.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The polarity<\/mark><\/strong> of water also is how things can get dissolved in water. Like salt or sugar or all different types of other chemicals. The different charged regions of water molecules pull and push the regions of other molecules, teasing them apart until they are surrounded by water. This is important to keep in mind with bottled water, which might have chemicals leached from the bottle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Image: https:\/\/www.biochempeg.com\/article\/122.html<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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