The state of water in nature. Water in three aggregate forms

Water is the most common substance in the world. It is a part of every living cell, therefore it is of great importance for the maintenance of life on Earth. We know a lot about water, but have not yet uncovered all its mysteries.

Water is always around us

Water balance is the basis of life on our planet. Most of it on Earth is the oceans and seas. 97% of this substance is concentrated in them. The remaining 3% are rivers, lakes, ponds, groundwaters and vaporous water in the atmosphere. Plants and animals use daily life-giving moisture to ensure their vital functions.

Water is a constituent part of the human body. Each our cage is more than half composed of this fluid. The blood flowing in our veins is 82% water. Muscles and skin contain it 76%. Surprisingly, even bones in their composition have up to 30% water. Its lowest content in tooth enamel is only 0,3%.

The total mass of water on the planet Earth is over 2 million million million tons.

What are the three states of water in nature?

To the question "What is water?" Almost without hesitation answer: "This is a liquid!". After all, most often we are used to seeing the liquid state of water in nature. But in fact it can have different forms, radically different from each other.

Water happens in three states:

• Liquid form;
• Vapor state;
• Solid aggregate form - ice.

Water - liquid

The liquid state of water in nature occurs to us most often. In this form H ₂ O can be in the temperature range from 0 to 100 degrees Celsius. It is this aggregate state that has water in the rivers, seas, oceans and during the rain.

This transparent substance has neither taste, nor smell, nor its own form. The liquid seems the most malleable, but at the same time it has tremendous power. The liquid state of water in nature allows it to dissolve many substances. Streams of water can destroy rocks, create caves, and thus change the terrain of the planet.

The liquid form of H ₂ O is used everywhere in everyday life. First, every living creature, including a human being, needs to consume a certain amount of water daily. Secondly, we need it to maintain hygiene. We take a bath or shower every day, several times a day on my hands, grow vegetables and fruits in our gardens, providing them with watering, washing their clothes. Even without hesitation, for all these procedures we use liquid water.

Ice - water in a solid state

H ₂ O from the liquid passes into a solid aggregate state with a temperature drop below 0 degrees Celsius. It is interesting that almost all the objects decrease in volume during cooling, and water, on the contrary, freezes, expands. If it is so transparent and colorless, it can get white when freezing due to the ingress of particles of air into the ice.

Unusually, with the same crystalline structure, ice can have many different forms. The solid state of water in nature is giant icebergs, a shiny crust of ice on the river, white snow flakes, icicles hanging on the roofs.

Ice is of great importance for human economic activity and has a great influence on the maintenance of vital activity of many organisms. For example, when the river freezes, it performs a protective function, keeping the reservoir free from further freezing, thereby protecting the underwater world.

But also ice can cause destructive natural disasters. For example, hail, icing of buildings and aircraft, soil freezing, ice collapses.

In everyday life, we use frozen water as a coolant, throwing small ice cubes into drinks to cool them. Similarly, food products and medications can be cooled.

Water vapor

Heating the liquid to 100 ° C, we can see the transition to the gaseous state of water. In nature, we can meet such water in the form of clouds, fog, fumes over rivers, lakes and seas with weather changes or simply high humidity.

In the atmosphere there are always droplets of water, the tiny size of which allows them to be held by weight. We can notice the presence of moisture in the air only when its amount increases, and clouds or fog appear.

Often the gaseous state of water can be useful in everyday life. A person uses steam to facilitate ironing after washing. Recently, special devices have appeared, the basis of which is the formation of water vapor. These are steam generators. They have many functions, the main ones of which are the fight against pollution and microbes. Also, the process of vaporization can be traced to the example of the operation of a domestic humidifier.

The transfer of water from one state to another plays the role of a large-scale purification process. Only during evaporation, freezing and melting, large masses of water are capable of self-cleaning.

Water in any aggregate state is the highest value. Bedouins, who lead a nomadic life in the deserts, say that it is more expensive than gold. But even those who do not have difficulties with lack of water, understand the greatest relationship between it and life.