Water
hideWater is a ubiquitous chemical substance, composed of hydrogen and oxygen, that is essential for the survival of many known forms of life. In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or state, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam. Water covers 71% of the Earth's surface. On Earth, it is found mostly in oceans and other large water bodies, with 1.6% of water below ground in aquifers and 0.001% in the air as vapor, clouds (formed of solid and liquid water particles suspended in air), and precipitation. Saltwater oceans hold 97% of surface water, glaciers and polar ice caps 2.4%, and other land surface water such as rivers, lakes and ponds 0.6%. A very small amount of the Earth's water is contained within biological bodies and manufactured products. Other water is trapped in ice caps, glaciers, aquifers, or in lakes, sometimes providing fresh water for life on land.
Water moves continually through a cycle of evaporation or transpiration (evapotranspiration), precipitation, and runoff, usually reaching the sea. Winds carry water vapor over land at the same rate as runoff into the sea. Over land, evaporation and transpiration contribute to the precipitation over land.
Clean, fresh drinking water is essential to human and other lifeforms. Access to safe drinking water has improved steadily and substantially over the last decades in almost every part of the world. There is a clear correlation between access to safe water and GDP per capita. However, some observers have estimated that by 2025 more than half of the world population will be facing water-based vulnerability. Water plays an important role in the world economy, as it functions as a solvent for a wide variety of chemical substances and facilitates industrial cooling and transportation. Approximately 70 percent of freshwater is consumed by agriculture.
For more information about Water, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with water
Lithium to be extracted from geothermal waste
Dec 14, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A technique developed by a Californian company, Simbol Mining, will enable the valuable mineral lithium, widely used in high-density batteries, to be reclaimed from the hot waste water produced ...
Rare Scottish mineral may indicate life on Mars
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) scientists is looking for clues about life on Mars in an earthy clay mineral found only in Aberdeenshire in Scotland.
Researchers Reveal That Environmentally Devastating Zebra Mussels Can Be Controlled
Dec 14, 2009 |
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Cloaked in a delicate brown and cream striped shell and measuring a mere inch in length, the zebra mussel certainly doesn’t look ominous. This tiny invasive species, however, has wreaked havoc in waterways ...
Governments turn to cloud seeding to fight drought
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 10, 2009 |
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(AP) -- On a mountaintop clearing in the Sierra Nevada stands a tall metal platform holding a crude furnace and a box of silver iodide solution that some scientists believe could help offer relief from searing ...
California's troubled waters: Satellite-based findings reveal major groundwater loss in Central Valley (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 14, 2009 |
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New space observations reveal that since October 2003, the aquifers for California's primary agricultural region - the Central Valley - and its major mountain water source - the Sierra Nevada - have lost nearly ...
Newly identified enzymes help plants sense elevated CO2 and could lead to water-wise crops
Dec 13, 2009 |
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Biologists have identified plant enzymes that may help to engineer plants that take advantage of elevated carbon dioxide to use water more efficiently. The finding could help to engineer crops that take advantage of rising ...
Introns: A mystery renewed
Dec 10, 2009 |
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The sequences of nonsense DNA that interrupt genes could be far more important to the evolution of genomes than previously thought, according to a recent Science report by Indiana University Bloomington and ...
Cassini closes in on the centuries-old mystery of Saturn's moon Iapetus
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 10, 2009 |
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Extensive analyses and modeling of Cassini imaging and heat-mapping data have confirmed and extended previous ideas that migrating ice, triggered by infalling reddish dust that darkens and warms the surface, ...
Mediterranean Sea filled in less than two years: study
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 09, 2009 |
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The Mediterranean Sea was mostly filled in less than two years in a dramatic flood around 5.33 million years ago in which water poured in from the Atlantic, according to a study published Wednesday.
Understanding ocean climate
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 10, 2009 |
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High-resolution computer simulations performed by scientists at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS) are helping to understand the inflow of North Atlantic water to the Arctic Ocean and how ...
Old hay and Alpine ibex horns reveal how grasslands respond to climate change
Dec 10, 2009 |
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How do plant ecosystems react to rising concentrations of the greenhouse gas CO2 in the atmosphere over the long term? This fundamental question is becoming increasingly pressing in light of global climate ...
H1N1 Virus Can Be Killed by Acidic Ozone Water
Nov 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have found that acidic ozone water can deactivate H1N1 viruses very effectively, offering a promising disinfectant for the millions of people trying to avoid the disease. Acidic ...
LCROSS Impact Finds Water on the Moon
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 13, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (31) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The argument that the moon is a dry, desolate place no longer holds water. Secrets the moon has been holding, for perhaps billions of years, are now being revealed to the delight of scientists ...
Loves Me, Loves Me Not: Researchers Discover New Method for Measuring Hydrophobicity at the Nanoscale
Dec 03, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered a new, more precise method for measuring how much — or how little - nanoscale interfaces love water.
Tadpoles Used to Rapidly Detect Water Pollution
Dec 03, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Research conducted by University of Wyoming Professor Paul Johnson and others demonstrates that genetically modified tadpoles work well as sensitive monitors for rapidly detecting water pollution.
