Did you know? (Water - Part 1)

Water is fantastic!

It is the compound that no one or any living thing can do without, life depends on this simple molecule. The larger portion of our earth is covered in water taking up most of our earths mass (around 70%). In us humans water makes up over 50% of our body mass some suggesting it could be over 60% which indeed is remarkable. Water is our life force and it is abundant in every form, Water is able to exist as the 3 states of matter being solid, liquid and gas.

So what about its physical and chemical properties?

Water (H₂0) is made up of 2 hydrogen atoms and one oxygen
atom. They are bonded to each other by covalent bonds. These covalent bonds are produced when two separate atoms share electrons with each other (covalent bonding is known as the sharing of electrons). Ionic bonding (the formation of Ions) is the other type of bonding found in the world of compounds and molecules. Thes best way to look at ionic bonding is the transfer of electrons.

So why does the water share its electrons with both the two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom?

The oxygen atom has a much greater affinity for the electrons than either of the hydrogen atoms, although it does not exert that much of a force to completely pull all the electrons away from the two hydrogen atoms to form Ions.