10 Fascinating Facts about Water

Here at Cooleraid, we’re obviously all about the water. You’ll be hard pushed to find a company who gets more excited about water than us. To solidify our love for water, we’ve put together 10 fascinating water facts that most people don’t know. Have a read and maybe by the time you’re done, you’ll love water just as much as we do . . .

1. Water could help us find life on other planets!

There aren’t many things that are true of every single species on Earth, but needing water is one of them – whether it’s mammal or plant life – if it’s living, it needs water to survive! Water makes up a huge percentage of all living things, whether they live in the driest part of the desert or at the bottom of the ocean. Water is what made life on Earth possible. And it’s for this reason that astrobiologists (scientists who search for life on other planets) think our biggest hope of finding life is to look for water.

2. Almost all of the water on Earth is in our oceans

A massive 96.5 percent of the water on Earth is in our oceans. These cover 71 percent of the surface of our planet. Not only that, but about 0.001 percent of our water is floating above us in the atmosphere. It sounds like a tiny amount, but if all of that water fell as rain at once, the whole planet would get about an inch of rain.

3. Most freshwater is in ice.

Only 3.5 percent of the water on Earth is fresh—that is, with just a few salts in it. Earth’s freshwater can be found in our streams, rivers and lakes, but mostly it is in groundwater and glaciers! Over 68 percent of our freshwater is locked up in ice and glaciers. And another 30 percent is in groundwater.

4. Salt water doesn’t always contain the same amount of salt

In a gallon of average ocean water, there is only about 1 cup of salt. Surprising right? It sure tastes like more if you accidentally swallow it! But the amount of salt does vary. For example, the Atlantic Ocean is saltier than the Pacific Ocean. The majority of the salt in the ocean is the exact same kind that we put on our food: sodium chloride. A small lake named Don Juan Pond in Antarctica contains the saltiest water in the world!

5. One drop of water can contain a lot of life

In a single drop of ocean water, there can be millions of bacteria and viruses. And it could also contain fish eggs, baby crabs, plankton, or even small worms.

6. Some water might have been delivered by comets

The rocky material that formed the Earth did contain some water. But it probably doesn't account for all the water we can see today. Comets are mostly made up of ice, so it’s possible that comets made regular water deliveries to Earth. It would take an awful lot of comets to fill the ocean, but they could well have made a large contribution.

7. It’s really awesome that ice floats

Usually when a solid forms, the atoms get closer together to form a denser substance. That’s why most solids sink in water. But solid water, or ice, is actually less dense than when it is fluid. This is unusual. The water molecules make rings when water freezes. And all that space makes ice less dense. That’s why it floats. This is useful because ice floating on the surface of a body of water lets the rest of it stay liquid. If ice sank, whole oceans could freeze! Magic!

8. Human beings are mostly water

A newborn baby is made up of 78 percent water. Adult humans are about 55-60 percent water. Water drives just about everything our bodies do. It’s a large proportion of the blood that brings nutrients to every one of our cells. We use it to eliminate waste. It helps us to regulate our body temperature. It acts as a shock absorber for our brain and spinal cord. We are totally dependent on water.

9. Water defies gravity in plants

Water has an interesting characteristic. It sticks to itself and other things. That’s why water forms round droplets. Not every liquid does that. This ‘sticky’ quality helps to get water from the roots of plants up to the leaves. Water molecules actually travel up through thin straws called xylem in the plant by holding onto each other and the walls of the tube. They’re pulled upwards as the water evaporates from the leaves at the top of the plant.

10. We can see water in all three states

We regularly experience water in all three states: solid ice, liquid water and gas water vapor. That’s actually quite unusual. All substances can be solid, liquid or gas, but a lot of them only change states at extreme temperatures. You might not ever see liquid silver or solid oxygen because their melting points and freezing points are at temperatures that would kill humans.