A number of years ago a student in Idaho presented a science project called “How Gullible Are We?” He did a survey of fellow students to see what they thought about a chemical he called dihydrogen monoxide or DHMO. He explained how it is implicated in thousands of deaths through accidental ingestion, as a gas can cause severe burns, accelerates the corrosion of metals, and is a major component of acid rain. Among other dangers, he pointed out that for those who have developed a dependency on DHMO, complete withdrawal means certain death. Out of his sample of 50 fellow students in the survey, 86% thought this chemical should be banned. Now these were students who had studied Chemistry and many had parents who worked in a nearby Nuclear Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. Yet they did not catch on to the fact that dihydrogen monoxide was simply water. A molecule consisting of two hydrogens and one oxygen.
This story has implications for the use of misleading scientific information to influence public policy, but that’s not what I’m writing about. Nor am I writing about how people can believe something without truly thinking about it.
Rather I hope to influence your perspective on this universal life-sustaining substance – water.
The subject of water is fascinating to me. God created a substance so universal and so much needed for all of life, yet so simple. Water is based on only two chemical elements – hydrogen and oxygen. Their combined atomic mass is only 18. If you ever study Chemistry, you may learn about something called hydrogen bonding. This is the idea that the hydrogens of one water molecule form weak bonds with the oxygen of another water molecule. So rather than a bunch of individual water molecules existing together, now there is a network of them. This results in some unusual properties for supporting life on Earth.
Most matter contracts when it becomes cold and expands with heat. However, water expands when it freezes resulting in a lower density. That’s why ice floats. This also results in lakes freezing at the top insulating the water below to allow fish to survive below the ice surface.
The phenomena of hydrogen bonding results in water having a relatively high boiling point (212 degrees Fahrenheit) for its relatively small molecular size. To go along with this, a relatively large amount of heat is required to raise the temperature of water. For example, it takes about ten times more energy to raise water by one degree Celsius than to raise the same amount of iron one degree Celsius. It is certainly good to have iron, copper, and aluminum cooking utensils heat up quickly, but it takes a while for water to reach its boiling point.
Also, a large of amount of heat is given off during a small drop in temperature for water. As a result the vast amounts of water on the Earth’s surface alternately store and release heat. This moderates daily temperature variations, which are especially noticeable near a large lake or the ocean. St. Louis winter and summer temperatures may not seem moderate at times, but Earth’s overall temperature range is livable compared to the moon or planets without water. The most extreme temperature range ever recorded for Earth ranged from a low of -126 degrees Fahrenheit in Antarctica to a high of 136 degrees Fahrenheit in the Libyan desert. The range is typically much less than that. By contrast, the moon with no water has a range of about -280 degrees to 212 degrees, or the boiling point of water.
It also takes a relatively large amount of heat to evaporate a small amount of water. This is good for us as the large amount of heat produced by our bodies can be dissipated by the evaporation of small amounts of water (perspiration) from the skin.
Another interesting property of water is something called surface tension. When water molecules bond together the surface of water can support light objects. An insect called a water strider easily walks across water. A small needle made from steel can be made to float even though steel is about eight times denser than water. This also explains why you can slightly overfill a glass of water or certainly fill to the rim without spilling.
Water is our universal solvent for all kinds of materials as well as a cleaning agent. It sustains our bodies. After all the human body is about 60% water.
Water is certainly symbolic in the Bible as Jesus talks of providing living water. From the universal flood of Noah’s time that dramatically changed the entire earth to the river of the water of life described in Revelation 22:1, water is an essential part of the Christian faith.
So this summer as we take a break from Berea Academy, I hope you have a better appreciation for the dihydrogen monoxide you might enjoy at your favorite lake or swimming pool.