However, even below the boiling point, water can change to vapor at its surface by evaporation (vaporization throughout the liquid is known as boiling). Phase transitionsĪt a pressure of one atmosphere (atm), ice melts or water freezes at 0 ☌ (32 ☏) and water boils or vapor condenses at 100 ☌ (212 ☏). Though interaction is weak, with superconducting magnets it can attain a notable interaction. Without this protection, most aquatic organisms would perish during the winter. This ice insulates the water below, preventing it from freezing solid. In a lake or ocean, water at 4 ☌ (39.2 ☏) sinks to the bottom, and ice forms on the surface, floating on the liquid water. This expansion can exert enormous pressure, bursting pipes and cracking rocks (see Frost weathering). The density of ice is 917 kg/m 3 (57.25 lb/cu ft), an expansion of 9%. Water differs from most liquids in that it becomes less dense as it freezes. The addition or removal of heat can cause phase transitions: freezing (water to ice), melting (ice to water), vaporization (water to vapor), condensation (vapor to water), sublimation (ice to vapor) and deposition (vapor to ice). The other two common states of matter of water are the solid phase, ice, and the gaseous phase, water vapor or steam. Also cognate, through the Indo-European root, with Greek ύδωρ ( ýdor), Russian вода́ ( vodá), Irish uisce, and Albanian ujë.Īlong with oxidane, water is one of the two official names for the chemical compound HĢO it is also the liquid phase of HĢO. The word water comes from Old English wæter, from Proto-Germanic * watar (source also of Old Saxon watar, Old Frisian wetir, Dutch water, Old High German wazzar, German Wasser, vatn, Gothic ???? ( wato), from Proto-Indo-European * wod-or, suffixed form of root * wed- ("water" "wet").
It is vital for all known forms of life, even though it provides no calories or organic nutrients. Water (chemical formula H 2 O) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a solvent ). Clouds in Earth's atmosphere condense from gaseous water vapor.