It’s practically used for everything; drinking, cooking, cleaning, chemical reactions, generating electricity and the list goes on…but what makes it so suitable for basically everything?
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I wonder this too especially with the conspiracy that the floride in our water blocks our 3rd eye
I’m no scientist, but I think it is because it is very unique. It changes phase (to solid, liquid and gas) at temperatures found on earth. It (like most things) gets more dense as it gets colder, but (unlike most everything) expands as it reaches its freezing point. That is why the bottom of a lake/pond/river doesn’t freeze solid allowing aquatic life to continue through the colder months.
It is pH neutral unless contaminated. It is colorless, odorless and nonflammable.
It is reactive (with say iron, among other things) but mildly so compared with many substances.
IDK if there is something better for the generation of electricity, but it expands 1500 times when it changes phase from liquid to gas allowing you to create the pressures needed to spin a turbine and only needing to get the temp up to 212F.
Perhaps someone would know if there is another liquid that is nonflammable with a lower temp required to shift to gas. I can’t think of one.
Other than that, life on earth has evolved to make use of it because of these reasons.
The reason it is so useful to us for say, cleaning, is that we have made products that work well with it.
Love the question, didn’t realized I was such a water booster.
Full disclosure: I am a plumber, so in addition to doing the many other things to help make life more comfortable, we help deliver potable water to millions of people around the world. I guess I got a bit of my appreciation on the job.
Most life on earth is water based. It’s a product of our atmosphere makeup as are we. All our bodily functions require water to function.
* there is a lot of it
* earth has the right temperatures and pressures for water to routinely change state between solid, liquid and gas, giving us rain, snow, rivers, glaciers, etc. – most other substances are more static: they just sit in the ground or hang around in the atmosphere
* it’s a powerful solvent, meaning that many solids and gases readily dissolve in it, which allows them to undergo chemical reactions with other dissolved substances
Off the top of my head…
Availability and affordability, as it is the most common liquid on the planet.
Being a singular substance, rather than a mix of others, meaning it can be contaminated, but not destroyed, by most processes.
Relatively easy to purify, via filtering, boiling, etc.
Relatively non toxic.
Relatively non compressible as a liquid, which is useful in various applications.
Highly reusable in processes such as steam powered turbines.
I’m sure there are other particular chemical characteristics that make it useful in specific applications.
Water is an excellent solvent, many, many substances can be dissolved by it.
There is a humongous amount of water on the Earth. As a result, it is one of the least expensive chemicals available.
Water is kind of unique in its structure. The molecules are bent and very polar (high difference in electron density) so the hydrogen atoms are pointing towards the electrons on the oxygen atoms. This is called Hydrogen bonding. Ice is actually less dense then water because of the space between the molecules in the crystal. The hydrogen bonding also gives water its high surface tension.
Hydrogen bonding is why water has a relatively high boiling point compared to other molecules that are a similar size. Methane which has no hydrogen bonding, has a boiling point of -161°C and ammonia, which has weak hydrogen bonding, has a boiling point of -33°C. These molecules are very close in size to water but have vastly different properties. Almost all molecules the size of water are gases at standard atmospheric pressure and temperature.
Also, water is able to dissolve sugars and Saltz due to the hydrogen bonding and high polarity respectively. This is what makes it a good solvent in biological applications.
Interestingly, completely pure water is an electrical insulator. It’s the dissolved salts that make it such a good conductor.
Water just does a lot of good things for living things. It’s good at retaining heat to help us regulate our body temp. It’s a universal solvent and helps things get in and out of your cells. Its just…. Good.
Everything comes down to the chemical makeup. Not to get off topic but take serotonin for example…. In many drugs it is basically serotonin with shit added to it. And please correct me if I’m wrong.
Water is very simple but interesting as it is like no other compound and can intermingle and separate very well due to it’s basically shape.
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