The importance of Water

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The importance of Water

Water, the most abundant compound on the planet, is a material, which is essential for all living organisms. Its uses in all living things cover a huge variety of everyday functions, which are important to the continuity of the organism. Water has obvious familiar properties, its colourless; It's tasteless; It’s odourless; It feels wet; It's distinctive in sound when dripping from a faucet or crashing as a wave; It dissolves nearly everything; It exists in three forms: liquid, solid, gas; It can absorb a large amount of heat; It sticks together into beads or drops;  It's part of every living organism on the planet.

Water's unique properties are largely a result of its simple composition and structure. Water is composed of two hydrogen atoms bound to one oxygen atom.   The two hydrogen atoms are smaller the smallest atom there is, in fact, and they rest on both sides of the larger oxygen atom at an angle of 105°. When the hydrogen atoms combine with oxygen, they each give away their single electron and form what is known as a covalent bond.  Because electrons are more attracted to the positively charged oxygen atom, the two hydrogen’s become slightly positively charged (they give away their negative charge) and the oxygen atom becomes negatively charged. This separation between negative and positive charges creates what is known as a polar molecule, meaning a molecule that has an electrical charge on its surface somewhere. Although the water molecule as a whole has no charge, the parts of it, the hydrogen wings and the oxygen body, do exhibit individual charges.

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The polarity of water allows it to join with other molecules, including itself.  Water molecules can form hydrogen bonds, which give shape to water as a whole. Water has a high surface tension(Fig 2).  The ability of water molecules to quickly break and re-form hydrogen bonds gives it a property called cohesion. Water's high amount of cohesion makes it "sticky" such that across the air-water interface, a kind of "water barrier" is set up that allows things to float easier on the surface and causes water to form beads. These hydrogen bonds also give water many other unique properties.

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