Waters Uniqueness
Week of December 22, 2024 – December 28, 2024
by Elizabeth Suzedell, Environmental Educator
How have you used water today? Maybe it was to wash your hands, brush your teeth, do the dishes, or fill your water bottle. Our water usage seems to be taken up by mostly mundane tasks, but its importance to our lives is far from insignificant. Without water, life on earth would be very different!
Water has many special properties that make it very unique. It is the only naturally occurring substance on our planet that can be found in all three phases of matter. Around here, it’s easy to find water as a solid, liquid, and gas all at once. We might have snow on the ground (solid), found next to the stream with running water (liquid), surrounded by air containing water vapor (gas). Because it freezes at 32°F, water has a huge impact on our winter weather. A change in only a few degrees in temperature can mean the difference between manageable rain, sheets of ice, or a foot of snow.
Typically, solids are more dense than liquid, meaning the matter in a solid is packed more tightly together than a liquid. Water goes against this though; solid ice is actually less dense than liquid water! If ice were more dense than liquid water, it would sink down to the bottoms of ponds where frogs, turtles, and other aquatic animals overwinter. While those creatures would be happy about this property of water, humans have to worry about it when it starts to get really cold. If liquid water in pipes freeze, the ice can expand too much and burst them. Repeated freezing and thawing of water on the roads creates all the cracks and potholes that seem to never be fixed in the summertime.
Even though water is a bland, colorless, tasteless liquid, it is beautiful. Water’s properties of cohesion and adhesion make it very “sticky,” so it sticks to itself and other surfaces to create perfectly round droplets. After a fresh rainfall, it can look like the leaves, sticks, and grass are covered in sparkly jewels. During this time of year though, we are more likely to see snow. When water freezes, its molecules arrange into an orderly, crystalline structure, which helps to give snowflakes their magnificent, 6-sided, symmetrical patterns.
Water’s uniqueness defines this winter season, and all of life on earth year-round. It is a truly amazing and beautiful part of nature. What are some interesting things you have noticed about water?
We invite our members to enjoy a weekly blog written by our naturalists. Every blog will be uniquely different but always inspired by nature. We may share a memory from a recent hike at The Woods or teach you about an animal or plant that lives on the preserve. No matter the topic, we will be sharing with you our passion for nature and celebrating the connections we all have to the natural world. Each blog will be connected to a weekly set of activities and ideas to help you put nature in your hands, even if you’re at home!