Water: What Do We Really Know?

We drink water when we are thirsty. We have our bath and wash our clothes with water. We even water grass or other plants for its sustenance. We swim in water.

Fun Fact: About three-quarters of Earth’s surface is water. Living things are mostly made up of water. Without water, there would be no life on Earth.

What Is Water?

Water is a compound chemical. It is a combination of oxygen and hydrogen atoms. Water is made of one atom of oxygen and two atoms of hydrogen. The three atoms make the tiniest possible drop of water, called a molecule. Something you can tell your friends.

Water can be either a liquid, a solid, or a gas. Liquid water flows. Solid water is ice. Water in the form of a gas is called vapor.

Where Is Water Found?

Liquid water fills the ocean, lakes, ponds, rivers, and swamps, and can be found almost anywhere. Water droplets form rain clouds. Liquid water makes beads of dew on the grass. It seeps down into the ground. It fills underground lakes and streams.

Water vapor is always present in the air. Water vapor makes clouds in the sky. Water vapor makes fog that hangs close to the ground. It is the steam that comes out of a teakettle.

Where Do We Get Drinking Water?

It is important to note that not all water is safe to drink. Water in lakes and rivers can be polluted. It can have harmful chemicals or germs that cause disease and even death.

Over time, scientists learned how to clean, or purify, drinking water. We learned that boiling water could kill germs. We have also learned that adding certain chemicals to water could kill germs.

Can We Run Out of Water?

Nature recycles water all the time, so it’s not a likely situation. The water in oceans, lakes, and rivers evaporates into gas and rises into the air. The water vapor eventually turns back into a liquid and falls as rain. The water cycle keeps the total amount of water on Earth the same. But most of this water is salt water in the ocean. People need fresh water for drinking and for growing food on farms. Ocean water is too salty to drink. It is too salty to use for watering plants.

Some places have more fresh water than others. People who live near big lakes or rivers have more fresh water than people who live in the desert. Places where a lot of rain falls have more fresh water.

Places that usually have enough fresh water sometimes have a drought. Very little rain falls during a drought. People run short of water. Folks everywhere should be careful not to waste water.

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