Blog post for water
Water
is one of the most abundant and most important compounds on earth (6). In IUPAC
naming system, water is known as Oxidane, while it is commonly known as H2O
and Dihydrogen oxide (6). In its normal state, water is not toxic to human body
but it could toxic when contaminated by heavy metal like mercury and potassium cyanide
during gold mining; acid rain could also be a major source of ground water
toxicity (5). Although toxic water is harmful to the health of individuals,
excessive amount of water drinking at once could also be lethal to people since
water could have a lethal dose of 6 litters per 165 pound person (10). Unlike most
compounds, water is found naturally on earth in large quantities. There is 332
500 000 cubic miles of water present on earth including salt water, fresh water
and ground water. The amount of fresh water present only in lacks and rivers is
about 22, 339 cubic miles (7).
Water
has very unique properties due to the hydrogen bonding between its molecules.
These strong intermolecular forces gives water a very high freezing and boiling
points when compared to other hydride compounds (3). Water is also a universal
solvent due to its polarity and almost dissolves any compound that comes in
contact. Another unique property of water is that ice flow on top of the water
surface because it is less dense than liquid water. This property allows water
to provide a suitable environment for sea life even in very cold climates (3).
Water is so important to life on earth that there is no alternative to it; and
without water, life could not exist. Beside some political controversies on the
control of water flow around the world (9), drinking water does not have any controversies
and no one could survive without using it including me.
The total amount of water present on earth (bigger
blue sphere) is compared to the earth size in a photographic representation.
References:
1.
Ackroyd,
N. (2015). Lecture Notes. Retrieved from Mount Royal University BCEM 4212
Blackboard website:https://courseware.mymru.ca/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_212548_1&content_id=_3366840_1
2.
Boron, W.F., BoulPae, E. L. (2009). Medical
Physiology (2nd ed). Philadelphia, U. S: Saunders Elsever.
3.
Chemwiki.
Unusual properties of water. Retrieved December 4, 2015, from http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Physical_Chemistry/Physical_Properties_of_Matter/Bulk_Properties/Unusual_Properties_of_Water
4. Granger,
J. (1999). The chemistry of WATER. Retrieved December 3, 2015, from http://witcombe.sbc.edu/water/chemistry.html
5.
McConnell,
R. L,. Abel, D.C. (2015). Ground water. In Environmental Geology. PP,
57-95. Boston, MA: Pearson Custom.
6.
National Institute Of Health. (2015). Water.
Retrieved December 03, 2015, from https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/water
7. U.S.
Geological Survey. (2015). The USGS Water Science School. Retrieved December 3,
2015, from http://water.usgs.gov/edu/earthhowmuch.html
8.
U.S. Geological Survey. (2015). [Photograph].
Retrieved December 3, 2015, from http://water.usgs.gov/edu/earthhowmuch.html
9.
Water Wars: Who Control the Flow? (2013, June
15). NRP Hourly Newscast. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2013/06/15/192034094/rivers-run-through-controversies-over-who-owns-the-water
10. Tjandra,
K. (2015). Lecture Notes. Retrieved from Mount Royal University BIOL 3104 Black
Board Website:https://courseware.mymru.ca/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_212421_1&content_id=_3446658_1&mode=reset
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