Water-Properties of Water

Introduction

Water is the source of living for every organism on this planet. You can’t imagine your life without water. In our day-to-day lives, water plays a very crucial role. But at the same time, due to the greed of humans, the water has depleted in many areas.

With the help of this article, you will learn many properties of water which are important for your knowledge. If you are using water daily, you must learn about it in detail. So, let’s get started on the properties of water and be ready to be a bird watcher.

What is Water?

The chemical substance with the molecular formula H2O is known as water. This means two hydrogen molecules are covalently bonded to one molecule of an oxygen atom. It’s a transparent, tasteless, and odourless liquid. This liquid is a life-supporting material for all living organisms. It doesn’t provide any calories, but still, life is impossible without this liquid. Let’s have a closer look at the properties of water. 

States of Water

The only substance which is found in all three states is water. The three different states of water are given below.

Solid

Ice is the solid form of water. When there are amalgamated solid crystals of water, it exists as ice, while if the amalgamated crystals are loose, it exists in the form of snow.  

Liquid

Mainly, water is found in the liquid state. When there are strong intermolecular forces of attraction among the hydrogen and oxygen bonds, water exists in liquid form. 

Gas

The vapours of water have a large amount of latent heat of vaporisation. This form of water contains loose intermolecular forces of attraction among the hydrogen and oxygen bonds. 

Properties of Water in Biochemistry

If you look at the water bodies from space, you will see vast patches of blue colour. That blue colour is nothing but the life-supporting and most important liquid – water. Around 75% of the earth is covered with water.

A typical body of a human being is made up of 65% of water, and that’s why water is referred to as life-supporting material. Water is known as a universal solvent. But do you know why this is so? It’s because water is the only liquid that can dissolve all the solutes in it. Any time, solutes are dissolvable in water. 

Properties of Water – Physical

Being a colourless and tasteless liquid, they exhibit hydrogen bonding. Due to this hydrogen bonding, it exhibits unusual properties in solid form. Due to these reasons, water shows high melting and boiling points. Also, due to these unique properties of water, it has a higher specific heat, thermal conductivity, surface tension, and dipole moment than other liquids. That is why water is a magical and important liquid present on the earth. 

As you know, most of the human body is made up of water, but have you ever thought about what would happen to your body without water? The body temperature will drastically change without water because water has a high latent heat of vaporisation.

Properties of Water – Chemical

The chemical properties of water vary from one reaction to another. Here, you will find a list of water’s most important chemical reactions.

Amphoteric Nature

When a substance can act both as an acid and base, it is known to be amphoteric. Water reacts with both acid and base, and that’s why it shows amphoteric nature. Here is an example of water acting acidic and basic in nature.

Acidic Nature: H2O(l) + NH3(aq)  →  NH4+(aq) + OH–(aq)

Basic Nature: H2O(l) + H2S (aq)  →  H3O+(aq) + HS–(aq)

Redox Reaction

When some metals reduce water to hydrogen molecules, those metals show redox reactions. Redox reaction means reduction as well as oxidation. If both oxidation and reduction reactions are taking place at once in a chemical reaction, it is known as a redox reaction. The example of water being reduced to hydrogen molecules is given below.

2H2O(l) + 2Na(s)  →  2NaOH(aq) + H2(g)

Hydrolysis Reaction

Water has a dielectric constant, and that’s why it has a strong hydrating tendency. The reaction involved in this process is known as the hydrolysis reaction. Some ionic and covalent compounds are dissolvable in water.

Na+(s)+H2O → Na+(aq)

Conclusion

After reading this article, you know the value of water and the properties of water. With this article,you learned about water’s physical and chemical properties. You would be amazed by knowing that the water you drink every day, the water used every day for bathing, has so many properties. Please don’t ignore water’s importance and consider it the most important liquid present on this planet. The water is vanishing at a speedy rate. The day is not very far when there will be a scarcity of water and people will fight over each other for water. So, save this essential life-supporting liquid and save the existence of future generations.