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Throughout history and the different cultures, water has had various mystical meanings. It has been the focus of many philosophical essays (such as Thales and Heraclitus). It is an essential element in different religions (Tao, Christianity). Formerly, it was considered one of the four elements, but eighteenth-century chemists proved that water is a compound of hydrogen and oxygen. Although water has been and remains the main subject of many scientific researches, its true essence has not been discovered yet.
There are different disciplines that defend the importance of water:
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For biologists, water is the mother of evolution, the matrix of life. They even go as far as to say that water is the fundamental substance for the biological production of energy from the earth (photosynthesis):
which comes from the radiation of the sun's energy. Without this process, life would be impossible. |
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For physicists, the driving force of life is the gradual loss of energy of electrons caused by metabolic processes, during which electrons with a high energy charge originating from the photosynthetic reaction, at one time achieve their state of lower energy. One of the most common outcomes of this process is water. |
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For chemists, water is the last oxidized material; water cannot undergo further oxidation; it may be considered as the final state in the reactions of life systems. If a chemist comes upon this substance for the first time, he or she would refer to it as dihydrogen oxide, a term that lacks the pleasant connotations of the word water, a dear and pure liquid that calms our thirst, refreshes and deans us, and keeps the forests green and the wheat fields golden. |
The continued interest in water has resulted in the emergence of an entire group of "water sciences", for example:
- Meteorology
- Hydrology (surface and groundwater)
- Limnology (freshwater biology)
- Oceanography
- Marine Biology
Water is odorless, tasteless, colorless in small quantities and greenish in large masses.
It is a poor conductor of heat and electricity.
Water refracts light.
It dissolves many substances
It consists of HYDROGEN (11'19 parts by weight and 2 by volume) and OXYGEN (88'81 parts by weight and 1 by volume).
When it is decomposed by an electric current (electrolysis of water) the mixture of H and O is triggered.
Water is obtained by distillation.
