Skip to main content

Water! Let's Understand it..

Water is the base of all life on any planet and that's why, experts look for traces of water on unknown planets, if it is or it was able to sustain any life. Planet Mars have been center of attraction since decades; And you might be aware of the efforts of the various field experts to find water in any form on Mars. Finally in 2018 scientists were successful in finding a huge subglacial lake below southern polar ice caps. Right from the morning to evening and from the birth till our death, water is an inevitable part of our life. In fact we live, eat and breathe water every day of our life time. So, the question comes why it is so important and inevitable?. Answer to these questions lies in the chemical and physical properties of water.

Lets go through the unique Chemical behavior of water molecules in three physical states:

V shaped structure of water molecule.
The figure above shows bend or inverted V -shaped molecular structure of Water(H2O), consisting of two hydrogen atoms attached to the  single oxygen atom.

1) In Liquid State:


                                           
Hexagonal arrangements of water molecules.
The figure above shows hexagonal arrangement of water(H2O) molecules.
In the figure you can see spaces and gaps in between.

  • The water molecules have strong tendency to form strong Hydrogen bonds with their neighbors.
  • At room temperature water molecular vibrate within the surrounding boundaries of other molecules.
  • H+(proton) and OH-(hydroxy) ions tend to break apart spontaneously and move around and within the molecules.
  • An average space between H+ and OH- ions is 400 molecules.
2) In Solid State(Ice):

  • Water is found in liquid state in normal conditions on earth and it freezes at 0 degree centigrade temperature due to strong hydrogen bonds.
  • Its only substance whose liquid form is denser than the solid form.Water is at its most dense form at 4 degree centigrade temperature. Thus, ice floats on water.
  • And that's why huge icebergs are formed.
  • Big sheets forms on the surface of big water bodies. This insulation prevents the entire water mass below from freezing solid, which in turn allows aquatic life survive the harsh winter.
  • The water molecules using intermolecular strong hydrogen bonds to form an open hexagonal structure  having spaces and gaps. And hence, solid water form is less denser than the corresponding liquid form.

3) In the Gaseous State:

  • Water boils at 100 degree centigrade.
  • At this temperature liquid water turns into gaseous form that is water vapour.
  • At this step intermolecular hydrogen bond in liquid state breaks to form a water vapor(gaseous state of water)
  • This simple transformation from water to water vapor, became the driving force for the industrial revolution.
  • Whatever benefits we enjoy out of industrial engineering technologies is due to this simple process.
Lets go through journey of finding the chemical structure of water molecule:

  • Chemical structure of water molecule was not founded until 18th century.
  •  Henry Cavendish discovered hydrogen in 1766.
  •  Joseph Priestly discovered Oxygen in 1774.
  • Renowned english chemist Henry Cavendish found that, when measured quantity of hydrogen and oxygen are burnt, the only result is water.
  • This was further confirmed by the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier,when he decomposed water back to hydrogen and oxygen.
  •  Finally in 1871, the world-famous chemist Stanislao Cannizaro, established the formulae of water to be H2O.

Thanks for reading my blog. Guy's I will love to hear from you. Your every feedback will help me give you a better scientific content each time.





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

IUPAC naming Of Aromatic Compounds

Definition of Aromatic Compounds: "Compounds containing benzene ring have distinctive fragrances. Hence, benzene family compounds are called Aromatic compounds . Example: Toluene, Aniline and Phenol". Figure 1.1 Long form of IUPAC: "International union of pure and applied chemistry". Aromatic compounds having benzene in their structural formula have been important in Chemistry. In the IUPAC naming of  aromatic compounds  common names of derivatives of benzene, such as Toluene, Aniline and Phenol, are used to name the whole compound. Figure  below shows the structure of Toluene, Aniline and Phenol: Let's see how these derivatives of benzene are named: No.1)   Figure 1.2 W hen benzene ring has only one substituent, there is no need of numbering. And as per IUPAC, first comes the name of substituent, followed by the common name  benzene. Example: Toluene, Aniline, and Phenol. No.2)   Figure 1.3 When benzene ring has more than one substituent, then, start ...

IUPAC naming of Alkenes and Alkynes.

Approximately 4 billion to 2.5 billion years ago a geological process began acting on the remains of plants and animals and as a result of such a long process occurring under layers of earth's crust, today we have fossil fuels. Coal, petroleum, natural gas, and crude oil are the fossil fuels which we use in our daily life in one or the other form and knowingly or unknowingly we have become slaves of this fossil fuels.  Organic compounds  such as alkanes , akenes, alkynes and polymers  also known as hydrocarbons, which are mainly derived from fossil fuels. This, hydrocarbons are the organic compounds majorly formed of hydrogen and carbon atoms. To know about  IUPAC nomclature of alkanes you can check out my earlier blogs. In this blog we will study alkenes and alkynes. Let's start: Alkenes and alkynes are the hydrocarbon compounds with at least one double and triple bond respectively.  Figure1.1 For example: we will see first member of alkene family, called Ethe...

Definition of Chemistry.

Today I woke up at 6 0' Clock in the morning, brushed the teeth, rinsed my mouth and washed the face with a splash of water. Then, I went in the bathroom, and enjoyed a hot water shower; Got out of the bathroom, applied organic oil, to my hairs and moisturizer to my body. After this, I went towards my wardrobe, took out a beautiful pair of cotton formals, wore it and thus, I was ready to go in the field. Dear readers, this is a small glimpse of my daily routine, where I used a plastic brush, hot water, tooth paste, hair oil, moisturizer, cloths, and like this there are millions of things, which I and you people must have come across, are possible due to Chemistry. Chemistry basically is a science of matter. Matter includes all the substances of the Universe.  Definition of Chemistry: "In chemistry, we study the composition, structure, properties and reactions of matter" . If you are a student then you might be thinking that laboratory is the only place where we see chemis...