water, a substance composed of the chemical
elements hydrogen and oxygen and existing in gaseous,
liquid, and solid states. It is one of the most plentiful and
essential of compounds. A tasteless and odourless liquid at
room temperature, it has the important ability to dissolve
many other substances. Indeed, the versatility of water as
a solvent is essential to living organisms. Life is believed to
have originated in the aqueous solutions of the
world’s oceans, and living organisms depend on aqueous
solutions, such as blood and digestive juices, for biological
processes. Water also exists on other planets and moons
both within and beyond the solar system. In small quantities
water appears colourless, but water actually has
an intrinsic blue colour caused by slight absorption
of light at red wavelengths.
Although the molecules of water are simple in structure
(H O), the physical and chemical properties of
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the compound are extraordinarily complicated, and they are
not typical of most substances found on Earth. For example,
although the sight of ice cubes floating in a glass of ice
water is commonplace, such behaviour is unusual for
chemical entities. For almost every other compound,
the solid state is denser than the liquid state; thus, the solid
would sink to the bottom of the liquid. The fact that ice
floats on water is exceedingly important in the natural
world, because the ice that forms on ponds and lakes in cold
areas of the world acts as an insulating barrier that protects
the aquatic life below. If ice were denser than liquid water,
ice forming on a pond would sink, thereby exposing more
water to the cold temperature. Thus, the pond would
eventually freeze throughout, killing all the life-forms
present.
Water occurs as a liquid on the surface of Earth under
normal conditions, which makes it invaluable for
transportation, for recreation, and as a habitat for
a myriad of plants and animals. The fact that water is readily
changed to a vapour (gas) allows it to be transported
through the atmosphere from the oceans to inland areas
where it condenses and, as rain, nourishes plant and animal
life. (See hydrosphere: The hydrologic cycle for a description
of the cycle by which water is transferred over Earth.)
Because of its prominence, water has long played an
important religious and philosophical role in human history.
In the 6th century BCE, Thales of Miletus, sometimes credited
for initiating Greek philosophy, regarded water as the sole
fundamental building block of matter:
Two hundred years later, Aristotle considered water to be
one of four fundamental elements, in addition to earth, air,
and fire. The belief that water was a fundamental substance
persisted for more than 2,000 years until experiments in the
second half of the 18th century showed that water is a
compound made up of the elements hydrogen and oxygen.
The water on the surface of Earth is found mainly in its
oceans (97.25 percent) and polar ice caps and glaciers (2.05
percent), with the balance in freshwater lakes, rivers,
and groundwater. As Earth’s population grows and the
demand for fresh water increases, water purification and
recycling become increasingly important. Interestingly, the
purity requirements of water for industrial use often exceed
those for human consumption. For example, the water used
in high-pressure boilers must be at least 99.999998 percent
pure. Because seawater contains large quantities of
dissolved salts, it must be desalinated for most uses,
including human consumption.
Structure of water
Liquid water
The water molecule is composed of two hydrogen atoms,
each linked by a single chemical bond to an oxygen atom.
Most hydrogen atoms have a nucleus consisting solely of
a proton. Two isotopic forms, deuterium and tritium, in
which the atomic nuclei also contain one and two neutrons,
respectively, are found to a small degree in water.
Deuterium oxide (D O), called heavy water, is important in
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chemical research and is also used as a neutron moderator
in some nuclear reactors.
Although its formula (H O) seems simple, water exhibits very
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complex chemical and physical properties. For example,
its melting point, 0 °C (32 °F), and boiling point, 100 °C (212
°F), are much higher than would be expected by comparison
with analogous compounds, such as hydrogen
sulfide and ammonia. In its solid form, ice, water is less
dense than when it is liquid, another unusual property. The
root of these anomalies lies in the electronic structure of the
water molecule.
The water molecule is not linear but bent in a special way.
The two hydrogen atoms are bound to the oxygen atom at an
angle of 104.5°.
The O―H distance (bond length) is 95.7 picometres (9.57 ×
10 metres, or 3.77 × 10 inches). Because an oxygen atom
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has a greater electronegativity than a hydrogen atom, the
O―H bonds in the water molecule are polar, with the oxygen
bearing a partial negative charge (δ−) and the hydrogens
having a partial positive charge (δ+).
Hydrogen atoms in water molecules are attracted to regions
of high electron density and can form weak linkages,
called hydrogen bonds, with those regions. This means that
the hydrogen atoms in one water molecule are attracted to
the nonbonding electron pairs of the oxygen atom on
an adjacent water molecule. The structure of liquid water is
believed to consist of aggregates of water molecules that
form and re-form continually. This short-range order, as it is
called, accounts for other unusual properties of water, such
as its high viscosity and surface tension.
An oxygen atom has six electrons in its outer (valence) shell,
which can hold a total of eight electrons. When an oxygen
atom forms a single chemical bond, it shares one of its own
electrons with the nucleus of another atom and receives in
return a share of an electron from that atom. When bonded
to two hydrogen atoms, the outer electron shell of the
oxygen atom is filled.
The electron arrangement in the water molecule can be
represented as follows.
Each pair of dots represents a pair of unshared electrons
(i.e., the electrons reside on only the oxygen atom). This
situation can also be depicted by placing the water molecule
in a cube.
water molecule
A water molecule is made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen
atom. A single oxygen atom contains six electrons in its outer shell, which
can hold a total of eight electrons. When two hydrogen atoms are bound
to an oxygen atom, the outer electron shell of oxygen is filled.
