Related topics: climate change , rivers , ice , soil , hydrogen
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 ...
Icy moons of Saturn and Jupiter may have conditions needed for life
Dec 15, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists once thought that life could originate only within a solar system's "habitable zone," where a planet would be neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water to exist on its surface. ...
How water forms where Earth-like planets are born
Dec 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In a study that helps to explain the origins of water on Earth, University of Michigan astronomers have found that water vapor can form spontaneously in habitable zones of solar systems, and that it develops ...
Water droplets shape graphene nanostructures
Dec 17, 2009 |
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A single-atom-thick sheet of carbon, like those seen in pencil marks -- offers great potential for new types of nanoscale devices, if a good way can be found to mold the material into desired shapes.
Hypoxia increases as climate warms
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 15, 2009 |
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A new study of Pacific Ocean sediments off the coast of Chile has found that offshore waters experienced systematic oxygen depletion during the rapid warming of the Antarctic following the last "glacial maximum" period 20,000 ...
NASA Outlines Recent Breakthroughs in Greenhouse Gas Research (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 15, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers studying carbon dioxide, a leading greenhouse gas and a key driver of global climate change, now have a new tool at their disposal: daily global measurements of carbon dioxide ...
Light-Driven Nanorod Could Roll on Water
9 hours ago |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In a recent study, researchers have examined the possibility of rolling a nanorod on the surface of water. On the macroscale, perhaps the closest analogy might be the sport of logrolling, ...
New research may help to clean drainage from abandoned mines
Dec 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In a quiet green glen near Ashville, Pa., lies a rust-colored pond. A deep, rectangular hole in the ground, it somewhat resembles an Olympic-sized pool. Few people, however, would make the ...
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 ...
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 ...
Greenland glaciers: What lies beneath
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 15, 2009 |
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Scientists who study the melting of Greenland's glaciers are discovering that water flowing beneath the ice plays a much more complex role than they previously imagined.
Lost water of the Napa Valley vineyards
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 16, 2009 |
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Getting the most out of every drop of water is a high priority for grape growers in the southern Napa Valley, where summers are hot and dry and vines have to be irrigated to make it through the growing season. But Stanford ...
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 ...
Study on Great Lakes erosion dredges up controversy
Dec 17, 2009 |
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The Great Lakes aren't as great as they once were. A U.S.-Canadian study released Tuesday reveals that unexpected erosion in the St. Clair River following a 1962 dredging project has permanently lowered Lakes Michigan and ...
NASA tech zooms in on water and land
Dec 15, 2009 |
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In a pilot project that could help better manage the planet's strained natural resources, space-age technologies are helping a Washington state community monitor its water availability. NASA satellites and ...
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