The Hydrogen and Oxygen of Water
The chemical equation for the formation of water
Hydrogen + Oxygen = Water
2H2 + O2 = 2H2O
It takes two molecules of the diatomic hydrogen gas, combined with one molecule of the diatomic oxygen gas to produce two molecules of water.
The formation of water from it's elements produces, in addition to water, a tremendous amount of energy.
2H2 + O2 = 2H2O + ENERGY
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Water boils at 100°C
and freezes at 0°C.
That's certainly not unusual.
and freezes at 0°C.
That's certainly not unusual.
The boiling point of water is not always "100 °C".
Many physical changes depend on pressure. The boiling point of water depends on the pressure of the air around it.
Let's compare the boiling of water with some other chemically similar substances.
IMAGE SOURCE: "Chemistry in Context" Wm C Brown Publishers, Dubuque Iowa, 2nd edition, A project of the American Chemical Society, ed: A. Truman Schwartz et al., 1997, Chapter 5 "The Wonder of Water"
Water is way out of line!
It boils at an extremely high temperature for its size. Why?
Because of the extensive network of Hydrogen bonds. Those H-bonds are cohesive forces - they want to hold the water molecules together - and there are a lot of them! The process of boiling requires that the molecules come apart: a process that takes a lot more energy than expected.
What's unusual about the freezing point?
Do you know...
We live on a water planet, however most of it is covered in salt water, covering about 71 per cent of the earth's surface. The biotic world is also made up mostly of water, 60per cent of tree's weight is water, in animals including humans the figure is about 50-65 per cent water. In terms of human use, only a small fraction is available for our use.
Oceans contain 97 per cent by volume, which is too salty for drinking, irrigation or industrial use. The 3 per cent of earth's total water is considered fresh water. About 2.997 per cent of this fresh water is trapped in polar ice caps and deep within earth surface which is too costly to extract.
Thus only .003 per cent of earth's total available water by volume is available for human use. If the worlds water was contained in 100 liters or 26 gallons, then what is readily available to us would amount to one-half teaspoon.
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