Fun & Interesting Facts About Water for Kids
What is Water?
Water is a chemical compound that is made up of hydrogen and oxygen. It is the most abundant substance on Earth, and it is essential to all life on Earth. Water has many uses, such as drinking, cooking, cleaning, and bathing. It also helps to regulate our body temperature and keep us hydrated. Imagine going a day without water. Your mouth would be dry, your throat would be sore, and you would feel fatigued. This is the same for animals and plants alike. When plants need water, they begin to wilt and shrivel up.
The water cycle describes how water moves from one place to another in nature. The sun evaporates water from oceans, lakes, or rivers and it rises into the sky as water vapor. When it cools enough to condense into tiny droplets (clouds), it falls back to earth as precipitation (rain or snow) or over the ocean (ocean spray). The water then collects in the form of runoff or groundwater, allowing the water cycle to repeat.
In the United States, less than 10% of the water that is used goes toward drinking. In the entire Earth, only 3% of water is fresh, drinkable water, with 2.4% of that being frozen in our glacier ice caps. This leaves .6% of all water on Earth is readily available drinking water. Globally, 88% of all freshwater is used for agriculture and industry while only 12% goes to personal use like bathing and washing clothes.
What are the Properties of Water?
Water is a chemical compound that is made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. It has a chemical formula of H2O. Water is the most abundant substance on Earth. It covers about 71% of the Earth's surface and makes up roughly 70% of the human body.
It has three phases: solid, liquid, and gas. In its solid phase, water is in the form of ice. When it's in its liquid phase, it's usually in the form of water or oceans. When it's in its gaseous phase, water vapor can take many forms including fog or clouds. Water is one of the only. substances where its solid phase, ice, is less dense than its liquid phase. This is why ice floats on water, and why we observe huge glaciers in the Arctic floating on the ocean.
The water molecule is polar, which means that it has a positive end and a negative end. The oxygen atom in the water molecule has two electrons in its outer orbit, while the hydrogen atoms have only one electron each in their outer orbit. This means that there are more electrons on one side of the molecule than on the other side, which causes it to be attracted to other molecules with an opposite charge (like salt). This phenomenon helps explain why water can dissolve more types of materials than any other liquid.
What are the Uses of Water?
Water is the most important resource on Earth. It is vital for all life on Earth. It covers 70% of the planet's surface and makes up roughly 70% of the human body.
Water is used in many ways in everyday life. We use it to drink, cook, clean, and bathe. We also use it to produce electricity and power our cars. The environment and the health of the people who live in it are greatly affected by the supplies of water.
Plants need water to perform photosynthesis. In the process of photosynthesis, plants convert sunlight into energy and the oxygen in the air to produce sugars and release carbon dioxide. These are the very same sugars we find in our fruit and the same oxygen we need to breathe.
Why is water important to discuss?
Water is important to discuss for many different reasons. Water is important for cell production. It acts as a transporter, carrying essential nutrients that are needed and delivered to the cells. Water is a heavily important resource in our body, where it helps us do a lot of things. Without it our body would shut down - 70% of who we are is actually water!
The ocean is home to thousands of different species. The ocean is home to a diverse population of marine life. The deep oceans are still unexplored and scientists estimate that 80% of all animals in the ocean have not been discovered yet. They also estimate that there are around 10-30 million species in the ocean, which is more than the total number of species on Earth.
It is also important to think about water as not everybody has access to clean drinking water. The World Health Organization estimates that about 1.4 billion people lack access to clean water and 2.6 billion don't have access to adequate sanitation (WHO). This is a global problem with the most severe impact on the poorest communities in 3rd world countries.
In these countries, water is a scarce resource and is often polluted by bacteria, chemicals, or industrial waste. As a result, millions of people are dying from preventable diseases every year such as diarrhea and cholera.
Clean water is not only necessary for drinking but also for sanitation purposes such as washing hands or dishes and cooking food. Without clean water, it's impossible to maintain personal hygiene or public health standards which can lead to epidemics of infectious diseases like cholera and typhoid fever (WHO).
Teaching Your Kids About Water
It is important to teach your kids about water. It's the most important thing they will ever drink, and they should know why it’s important and how to take care of it. At Ivy Camps USA, we provide courses like Engineer a Better World and Exploring Earth & Space that teach your kids about water and why it is important. Sign your kids up today!
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