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The mysteries of water

Posted on Tuesday, 9 February, 2010 | 20 comments

Water is one of the most important substances on the planet yet mystery still surrounds many of its properties, exactly how much do we really know about it ?

What makes water so fundamentally important to life ? Why do ice cubes float ? Why does it freeze from the top rather than from the bottom ? This article delves in to these mysteries and more.

We are confronted by many mysteries, from the nature of dark matter and the origin of the universe to the quest for a theory of everything. These are all puzzles on the grand scale, but you can observe another enduring mystery of the physical world - equally perplexing, if not quite so grand - from the comfort of your kitchen. Simply fill a tall glass with chilled water, throw in an ice cube and leave it to stand.

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Source: New Scientist

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Recent comments on this story

#16 Posted by Copasetic on 10 February, 2010, 0:23
The self-gratifying posts of trying to act like you have something to teach when you do not is annoying. As I have already said, I understand the article I posted but it you who do not understand my comments on the article that went beyond it at all obviously. Oh well. [/quote] That's int...

#17 Posted by DieChecker on 10 February, 2010, 1:25
A pyramid is made of triangles, No? And the triangle is the simplist of shapes. Chemically you can not get simpler then a triangle, other then a straight line. There is nothing mystical about pyramids.

#18 Posted by RamboIII on 10 February, 2010, 2:27
And this is why chemistry is the most boring field of science.

#19 Posted by MedicTJ on 10 February, 2010, 8:14
Due to my own profession, I've gone through basic chemistry as we understand it. And I laughed my ass off the entire time........... Not because what I was learning was wrong....but because what I was being taught was the be-all/end-all. How can we be this arrogant? It's as if we'v...

#20 Posted by sepulchrave on 10 February, 2010, 14:48
I heard Lars Petterssen talk about this research at an X-ray conference. Actually I heard a lot of people talk about the structure of water. Everyone and their mother seemed to be jumping on the band wagon. From basic chemistry and group theory we expect liquid water to have a loosely tetrahedral s...

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