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Dew!

Dew on a Leaf

Dew in a Spider Web

Dew = water, and water is so very awesome. The pics above were taken at the Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, NC.

I remember being in 1st or 2nd grade and reading a book about a girl who was shrunk who had to learn an incredible lesson about how water actually has “skin”. I wish I could find the book online – but it reminded me of 9th grade biology where the teacher taught us the water lesson via “6 really awesome things about water”.

So, those 6 awesome things… I had to go back and look at some properties of water to make sure that I remembered them; but I’m pretty sure that the lesson went something like this -

1. Survival
Water is essential for the survival of all known life forms. Without water, the world would be without us – and just about everything else that really intrigues me. Earth is 71% covered in water. 97% of that is found in the oceans with about 2.4% tied up in glaciers and ice caps, .001% as vapor (clouds) and .6% as freshwater found in lakes, rivers, etc.

2. Frozen Expansion
Water, unlike most compounds, expands when it is frozen (by 9%). This is why ice floats – and it is also why creatures can survive in water when there is surface freezing.Which is also why its easy for me to be a self-diagnosed pagophage. I mean, how can I resist nom nomming those deliciously crunchy cubes when they float to the top?

3. Solvent
Water is such a powerful solvent – that it is known as the universal solvent. It can break down many other compounds including all the major components in our cells (DNA, protein, polysaccharides). The human body is generally between 55%-78% water. And we need to keep guzzling to keep everything working properly from day to day.

4. Electric!
While pure water is not great at conducting electricity – by adding small amounts on ionic material (like salt) you can greatly increase water’s ability to conduct electricity. This fact underlies the ability for our bodies’ muscles, nerves and more to work. Super fast electric charge highway! Proteins and nerve sheaths can speed that up even more – but that is a topic for another blog!

5. Thermostat
Water is fantastic at buffering changes in temperature on our planet. It has the second highest heat capacity known (behind ammonia). The stages of water, gravity and the properties of water allow for the greenhouse effect which helps to keep Earth at relatively stable temperatures.

6. Polar
And my favorite property is that water is polar due to Oxygen having a slight negative charge and Hydrogen having a slight positive charge. This is what allows water to have such neat features – like capillary action/waves, adhesion, surface tension, etc. The surface tension was what the book I referred to early wrote about. In the book, the girl was shrunk down to pea size perhaps. She was walking around the house learning all sorts of neat things. She came upon a drop of water and realized that she was thirsty. She tried to “drink” the water but the surface tension made it impenetrable for something of her size. She was able to break the surface tension using her entire body but became trapped in the water drop and had to quickly drink it down in order not to drown (maybe a little morbid for a kid….). Realistically that would have caused water toxicity… but the neat part when I was young was thinking of the strength of the surface tension of water. Absolutely fascinating! The polarization assists with all the things listed above, but it also gives us waves and allows for vascular plants (like trees) to survive. Side note – anyone else read that book? I’d give a dollar to figure out the name of it…

Water is found all over this universe, and is hypothesized to be found on other universes as well. The general though is that H2O is a byproduct of star formation. Water can also be split by electrolysis.

For added water craziness – check this out Dihydrogen monoxide hoax. And in that fantastic homage to Sir Francis Bacon – Knowledge is power (especially when there is otherwise a lack of understanding).