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Over two thirds of the Earth today is water, and living organisms are 80% water by mass, they must retain this to survive. Water is a vital solvent and reactant in everyday life.
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Over two thirds of the Earth today is water, and living organisms are 80% water by mass, they must retain this to survive. Water is a vital solvent and reactant in everyday life. The formula for water is H20. Compared to other molecules H20 is very small. Two hydrogen atoms are covalently bonded to one oxygen atom. Covalent bonds are formed by sharing electrons in outer energy levels of atoms. The large number of protons in the oxygen nucleus has a stronger attraction for shared electrons than the hydrogen nucleus. Oxygen therefore pulls electrons slightly closer to itself so that it develops a weak negative charge represented as ?- and hydrogen develops a slight positive charge represented as ?+. This means the charge distribution is unequal and it becomes a polar molecule. Adjacent molecules of water are attracted because the negatively charges O attracts a positively charged H. The...
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