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
Jupiter's Moon Europa Has Enough Oxygen For Life
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 16, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (99) |
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New research suggests that there is plenty of oxygen available in the subsurface ocean of Europa to support oxygen-based metabolic processes for life similar to that on Earth. In fact, there may be enough ...
Metal-Air Battery Could Store 11 Times More Energy than Lithium-Ion
Nov 05, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (51) |
12
(PhysOrg.com) -- A spinoff company from Arizona State University plans to build a new battery with an energy density 11 times greater than that of lithium-ion batteries for just one-third the cost. With a ...
H1N1 Virus Can Be Killed by Acidic Ozone Water
Nov 09, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (44) |
16
(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 ...
Astronomers find coldest, driest, calmest place on Earth
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 31, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (42) |
19
The search for the best observatory site in the world has lead to the discovery of what is thought to be the coldest, driest, calmest place on Earth. No human is thought to have ever been there but it is expected to yield ...
LCROSS Impact Finds Water on the Moon
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 13, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (31) |
15
(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 ...
Global warming likely to be amplified by slow changes to Earth systems
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 20, 2009 |
2.8 / 5 (46) |
57
Researchers studying a period of high carbon dioxide levels and warm climate several million years ago have concluded that slow changes such as melting ice sheets amplified the initial warming caused by greenhouse ...
Renewable Energy Made by Mixing Salt and Fresh Water
Sep 02, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (27) |
6
(PhysOrg.com) -- When a river flows into the sea, the location is more than just a haven for water commerce. The mixing of fresh and salt water that occurs at an estuary also dissipates energy, as the different ...
To save lives, an Indian doctor rethinks the toilet
Aug 23, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (25) |
16
By rethinking the humble toilet, Indian sanitation expert Bindeshwar Pathak has found a way that can save water -- and lives -- in developing countries.
Exotic life beyond Earth? Looking for life as we don't know it
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 18, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (24) |
8
Scientists at a new interdisciplinary research institute in Austria are working to uncover how life might evolve with "exotic" biochemistry and solvents, such as sulphuric acid instead of water. Their research ...
Deep Impact, Moon Mineralogy Mapper find clear evidence of water on moon
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 23, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (23) |
17
New data from the Deep Impact spacecraft and the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), an instrument aboard India's recently ended Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, provide, for the first time, clear evidence that water exists ...
Mediterranean Sea filled in less than two years: study
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 09, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (23) |
2
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.
Scientists pinpoint origin of dissolved arsenic in Bangladesh drinking water
Nov 15, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (21) |
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Researchers in MIT's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering believe they have pinpointed a pathway by which arsenic may be contaminating the drinking water in Bangladesh, a phenomenon that has puzzled ...
Early life on Earth may have developed more quickly than thought (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 11, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (19) |
0
The Earth's climate was far cooler -- perhaps more than 50 degrees -- billions of years ago, which could mean conditions for life all over the planet were more conducive than previously believed, according ...
Rare Scottish mineral may indicate life on Mars
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 10, 2009 |
3.7 / 5 (22) |
7
(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.
Icy moons of Saturn and Jupiter may have conditions needed for life
Dec 15, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (16) |
0
(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. ...
