Composition of h2o: http://www.bwt-group.

com/en/water-technology/element-
h2o/Pages/default.aspx
The composition of h2o is basically 2 atoms of hydrogen and 1 atom of oxygen. It was the chemist Henry
Cavendish (1731 1810), who discovered the composition of water, when he experimented with
hydrogen and oxygen and mixed these elements together to create an explosion (oxyhydrogen effect). In
1811 the Italian physician Amadeo Avogadro finally found the H2O formula for water.

Behavior: https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-reason-anomalous-behaviour-water-613516

The anomalous properties of water are those where the behavior of liquid water is quite
different from what is found with other liquids. No other material is commonly found as solid
(ice), liquid (water), or gas (steam). Frozen water (ice) also shows anomalies when compared
with other solids.
The anomalous behavior of water, sometimes called the density anomaly, is due to
strong intermolecular attractions between water molecules called hydrogen bonds. The
large electronegativity difference between oxygen and hydrogen causes the hydrogen-oxygen
bonds to be polar. The oxygen ends of water molecules are slightly negative and the hydrogen
ends are slightly positive. The positive and negative ends are attracted to oppositely charged
ends of other water molecules.
Properties: https://owlcation.com/stem/5-Properties-of-Water

1. Water's Attraction to Other Polar Molecules

Cohesion
Cohesion, otherwise known as water's attraction to other water molecules, is one of the major
properties of water. Water's polarity lends it to be attracted to other water molecules. The hydrogen
bonds in water hold other water molecules together. Due to water's cohesiveness:

Liquid water has surface tension. This allows for insects, such as Water Striders, to walk on
water.
Water is a liquid at moderate temperatures, and not a gas.

Adhesion
Water's attraction between molecules of a different substance is called adhesion. Water is adhesive
to any molecule it can form hydrogen bonds with. Due to water's adhesiveness:

Capillary action occurs. For example, when you have a narrow tube in water, the water will rise
up the tube because of water's adhesiveness to the glass "climbing" up the tube.

2. Water's High-Specific Heat

Water can moderate temperature because of the two properties: high-specific heat and the high heat
of vaporization.

High-specific heat is the amount of energy that is absorbed or lost by one gram of a substance to
change the temperature by 1 degree celsius. Water molecules form a lot of hydrogen bonds
between one another. In turn, a lot of energy is needed to break down those bonds. Breaking the
bonds allows individual water molecules to move freely about and have a higher temperature. In
other words: if there are a lot of individual water molecules moving about, theyll create more friction
and more heat, which means a higher temperature.
The hydrogen bonds between water molecules absorb the heat when they break and release heat
when they form, which minimizes temperature changes. Water helps maintain a moderate
temperature of organisms and environments.

Water takes a long time to heat up, and holds its temperature longer when heat is not applied.

3. Water's High Heat of Evaporation

Water's high heat of vaporization is the other property responsible for its ability to moderate
temperature.
Water's high heat of evaporation is basically the amount of heat energy needed to change a gram of
liquid into gas. Water also needs a lot of energy in order to break down the hydrogen bonds. The
evaporation of water off a surface causes a cooling effect. Much like among humanswhen we get
hot, or energy inside our body is breaking chemical bonds, we sweat as a cooling effect. In this case,
the same process occurs: as the water evaporates off the the surface of the skin, it cools down the
surface.
4. The Lower Density of Ice
At cooler temperatures, the hydrogen bonds of water molecules form ice crystals. The hydrogen
bonds are more stable and will maintain its crystal-like shape. Icethe solid form of wateris less
dense than water because of the hydrogen bonds being spaced out and being relatively apart. The
low density is what allows icebergs to float and are the reason that only the top part of lakes are
frozen.

5. Water's High Polarity

Water is a polar molecule that has a high level of polarity and attraction to ions and other polar
molecules.
Water can form hydrogen bonds, which make it a powerful solvent. Water molecules are attracted to
other molecules that contain a full charge, like an ion, a partial charge, or polar. Salt (NA+ CL-)
dissolves in water. Water molecules surround the salt molecules and separate the NA+ from the CL-
by forming hydration shells around those two individual ions.

Importance: https://owlcation.com/stem/The-Importance-of-Water-to-Life

Stabilizes Temperature
Water cools the earth when it heats up and warms it when it cools down. When the temperature
drops low enough, water freezes, releasing its own heat and warming the frigid air. When the
temperature rises high enough, water evaporates, taking some of the heat with it and cooling the hot
air. It also cools the heat of volcanoes and wildfires, via moisture released from burning vegetation,
which forms clouds that cool the air and then release rain. And water in the ground cools the surface
of the earth during the day and warms it at night.
Without water the air and earth would vacillate between extreme hot and extreme cold every day,
everywhere, with a gradual increase in temperature as time goes on.

Cushions & Softens

Just as water in a waterbed has a cushioning effect with any movement, so it also has when buried
in the earth. This cushioning is good protection during an earthquake, proven in seismic studies,
when the groundwater slows down seismic waves and dampens their effects.

Water also softens the soil, making it easier for rain to percolate through to refill the aquifer - the
earth's underground storage space. When stored groundwater is sucked up and not replaced, the
soil gradually condenses and becomes hard. Then water slides off the top, instead of being
absorbed, and the earth loses its storage place and its shock protector.

Where the earth is receptive, rainwater sinks down through it to be stored in the aquifer. | Source

The softening effect of water is also evident in the way it prepares seeds to grow. Many seeds have
hard covers that keep them from growing until water is present. Water softens the seed cover
enough for the little shoots to break out, then the soft soil, mixed with organic matter, provides a
perfect medium for the shoots to grow into full-fledged plants.
Without water most seeds would be too hard to grow, and the ground would be too hard or sandy to
absorb and hold rain. Without water storage, droughts would kill, and earthquakes would be severe.

Enables Transportation
Throughout the earth and the bodies of living things, water is used to transport both nutrients and
wastes. On land, water transports nutrients and rich soils from the mountains to lower altitudes on
the way to the sea. In the ocean, water currents disperse nutrients throughout the world.
Water transports boats of all sizes filled with people, mail, and physical goods. Taken in the West Indies,
1985. | Source

Humans use waterways to transport goods via boats and barges. Water in plant sap and blood
transports nutrients and wastes to and from cells. In the human and animal brain water transports
electrical charges, which allow us to think clearly.

Without water there would be no dispersal of nutrients, electrical messages, or mass transit of goods
and services that help life prosper.

Cleanses and Breaks Down Wastes

Rain cleans whatever it passes through (air, the earth's surface, soil), which is why everything smells
fresh after a rain. It also plays a cleansing role in our own bodies, as it passes through the kidneys. It
carries down dirt, debris, minerals, and toxins, washing all into the sea. Once in the ocean, algae
and other microbes break the debris down (except plastic) into basic food components that can be
used to support life. The ocean thereby becomes a primordial soup, filled with nutrients of all kinds.
From the ocean life was born.
Without water the earth and our bodies would be unable to break down wastes.

Enables Reproduction
Water is a key component of birth - the reproductive cycle of all animals mimicking the life-spawning
ocean. In mammals, sperm are carried by water to impregnate the egg. Once impregnated, all
nutrients in a female's body that a baby will need are carried by water (amniotic fluid) to the womb,
before leftovers are distributed to the mother. Babies are born with a gush of water and are
immediately fed with water that is nutrient rich. Birds produce eggs that are mostly water mixed with
nutrients for the growing life inside.

Without water there would be no reproduction, hence continuation of life as we know it.
Babies of mammals grow inside a bubble filled with nutritious water called the amniotic sac. The water
cushions them and helps propel them out of the womb at birth. | Source

Provides a Home
In addition to being the soup from which life emerged, the ocean and other water bodies act as
home for more life than what lives on land. Mammals, fish, birds, insects, trees, plants, algae, krill,
and many other forms of life either live directly in water or are wholly dependent upon it for survival.
This includes the tiny iceworms, copepods, and diatoms that inhabit trillions of minuscule tunnels in
icebergs and their undersides, providing food for whales and fish that migrate to the poles to eat.
Without water life would lose its primary food source.
 Krill are tiny organisms that grow on the surface of the sea in plankton. Whales and ocean fish of all kinds
depend on krill as a basic component of their diet. | Source

Helps Make Things

Water and carbon dioxide are the two key components of plant photosynthesis, which is how plants
make their food. Bees use water to make honey, flowers use water to make nectar, trees use water
to make pitch, spiders and snakes use water to make venom, and termites mix saliva with mud to
make their homes.

Humans use water to make paint, dyes, inks, all kinds of drinks, and we bottle it straight. We use it
for paper, fabrics, food processing, chemical compounds, and the manufacture of hundreds of other
products essential to modern living.

Without water, plants and many insects and arthropods could not survive, nor would humans have
developed the foods and industries we have.

Conservation: http://www.edenproject.com/learn/for-everyone/water-saving-tips

1. Turn off the tap when you brush your teeth this can save 6 litres of water
per minute.
2. Place a cistern displacement device in your toilet cistern to reduce the
volume of water used in each flush. You can get one of these from your water
provider.
3. Take a shorter shower. Showers can use anything between 6 and 45 litres
per minute. Consider getting an aerated shower head, which combines water
and air, or inserting a regulator in your shower, which puts an upper limit on
flow rates.
 Always use full loads in your washing machine and dishwasher this
cuts out unnecessary washes in between.
4. Fix a dripping tap. A dripping tap can waste 15 litres of water a day, or 5,500
litres of water a year.
5. Install a water butt to your drainpipe and use it to water your plants, clean
your car and wash your windows. A water butt can collect around 5,000 litres
a year.
6. Water your garden with a watering can rather than a hosepipe. A hosepipe
can use as much as 1,000 litres of water an hour. Mulching your plants (with
bark chippings, heavy compost or straw) and watering in the early morning
and late afternoon will reduce evaporation and also save water.
7. Fill a jug with tap water and place this in your fridge. This will mean you
do not have to leave the cold tap running for the water to run cold before you
fill your glass.
8. Install a water meter. When you're paying your utility provider for exactly how
much water you use, laid out in an itemised bill, there's an incentive to waste
less of the stuff.
9. Invest in water-efficient goods when you need to replace household
products. You can now get water-efficient showerheads, taps, toilets, washing
machines, dishwashers and many other water-saving products. For more
information visit the Waterwise website.

Why does saving water matter?

Even though water doesn't appear in short supply in the UK, using less water
actually means you are:

Reducing energy use. Cleaning waste water (or 'grey water', as it's called) is
an energy-intensive process; so is heating the hot water that comes out of
your taps.
Saving money. If you're on a water meter, these tips above could save you a
bob or two.