Water - Chemical and Physical Properties

Chemical and Physical Properties

Water is the chemical substance with chemical formula H₂O: one molecule of water has two hydrogen atoms covalently bonded to a single oxygen atom.

Water appears in nature in all three common states of matter (solid, liquid, and gas) and may take many different forms on Earth: water vapor and clouds in the sky; seawater in the oceans; icebergs in the polar oceans; glaciers and rivers in the mountains; and the liquid in aquifers in the ground.

The major chemical and physical properties of water are:

• Water is a liquid at standard temperature and pressure. It is tasteless and odorless. The intrinsic colour of water and ice is a very slight blue hue, although both appear colorless in small quantities. Water vapour is essentially invisible as a gas.
• Water is transparent in the visible electromagnetic spectrum. Thus aquatic plants can live in water because sunlight can reach them. Infrared light is strongly absorbed by the hydrogen-oxygen or OH bonds.
• Since the water molecule is not linear and the oxygen atom has a higher electronegativity than hydrogen atoms, it carries a slight negative charge, whereas the hydrogen atoms are slightly positive. As a result, water is a polar molecule with an electrical dipole moment. Water also can form an unusually large number of intermolecular hydrogen bonds (four) for a molecule of its size. These factors lead to strong attractive forces between molecules of water, giving rise to water's high surface tension and capillary forces. The capillary action refers to the tendency of water to move up a narrow tube against the force of gravity. This property is relied upon by all vascular plants, such as trees.
• Water is a good polar solvent and is often referred to as the universal solvent. Substances that dissolve in water, e.g., salts, sugars, acids, alkalis, and some gases – especially oxygen, carbon dioxide (carbonation) are known as hydrophilic (water-loving) substances, while those that are immiscible with water (e.g., fats and oils), are known as hydrophobic (water-fearing) substances.
• Most of the major components in cells (proteins, DNA and polysaccharides) are also dissolved in water.
• Pure water has a low electrical conductivity, but this increases with the dissolution of a small amount of ionic material such as sodium chloride.
• The boiling point of water (and all other liquids) is dependent on the barometric pressure. For example, on the top of Mt. Everest water boils at 68 °C (154 °F), compared to 100 °C (212 °F) at sea level. Conversely, water deep in the ocean near geothermal vents can reach temperatures of hundreds of degrees and remain liquid.
• At 4181.3 J/(kg·K), water has a high specific heat capacity, as well as a high heat of vaporization (40.65 kJ·mol−1), both of which are a result of the extensive hydrogen bonding between its molecules. These two unusual properties allow water to moderate Earth's climate by buffering large fluctuations in temperature.
• The maximum density of water occurs at 3.98 °C (39.16 °F). It has the anomalous property of becoming less dense, not more, when it is cooled to its solid form, ice. During freezing, the 'open structure' of ice is gradually broken and molecules enter cavities in ice-like structure of low temperature water. There are two competing effects: 1) Increasing volume of normal liquid and 2) Decrease overall volume of the liquid. Between 0◦C and 3.98◦C, the second effect will cancel off the first effect so the net effect is shrinkage of volume with increasing temperature. It expands to occupy 9% greater volume in this solid state, which accounts for the fact of ice floating on liquid water, as in icebergs.
• Its density is 1,000 kg/m3 (62.428 lb/cu ft or 8.3454 lb/US gal) liquid (at 4 °C; ice has a density of 917 kg/m3).
• Water is miscible with many liquids, such as ethanol, in all proportions, forming a single homogeneous liquid. On the other hand, water and most oils are immiscible, usually forming layers according to increasing density from the top. As a gas, water vapor is completely miscible with air.
• Water forms an azeotrope with many other solvents.
• Water can be split by electrolysis into hydrogen and oxygen.
• As an oxide of hydrogen, water is formed when hydrogen or hydrogen-containing compounds burn or react with oxygen or oxygen-containing compounds. Water is not a fuel, it is an end-product of the combustion of hydrogen. The energy required to split water into hydrogen and oxygen by electrolysis or any other means is greater than the energy that can be collected when the hydrogen and oxygen recombine.
• Elements which are more electropositive than hydrogen such as lithium, sodium, calcium, potassium and caesium displace hydrogen from water, forming hydroxides. Being a flammable gas, the hydrogen given off is dangerous and the reaction of water with the more electropositive of these elements may be violently explosive.