Informative Text on Water

Informative Text on Water

What exactly is water and why is it essential for life?

We all know in one way or another what water is: we drink it every day, we use it to wash ourselves, to clean our home and to water the plants. But what exactly is that liquid that makes up 71% of the surface of our planet?

The nature of water

Water is a colorless, odorless and tasteless inorganic liquid, that is, without color, odor, or taste. It is made up of two types of atoms: two hydrogen and one oxygen in each molecule (hence its formula is H₂OR). Knowing the composition of water was a modern achievement, since for millennia it was thought that water was a pure substance, that is, a basic element of nature, together with fire, earth and air.

To a temperature and an ordinary pressure range, that is, like those in our atmosphere at the level of the earth's surface in the equator, water always tends to be liquid, but an increase in temperature (above 100 ° C) is enough to transform it in a gas, which we know as water vapor. Similarly, a decrease in temperature (equal to or less than 0 ° C) is sufficient to bring it to

solid state, that is, to turn it into ice.

Water is regarded as the solvent universal, which means that almost all substances can be dissolved or diluted in it. It is also a recurring product in many chemical reactions (oxygenic respiration, in fact, releases water vapor into the atmosphere), and it is a substance that frequently reacts with metals to form oxides, and with the latter to form hydroxides and oxacids, depending on whether they are metallic or non-metallic, respectively. It is a wonderful conductor of electricity and sound.

How much water is there in the world?

Water is a very abundant substance on our planet and even in the Solar System. But in the latter it is found only in its solid and gaseous forms. That means that liquid water exists only on our planet. No one knows, however, exactly where it came from: some hypothesis Scientists assume that the water content of our planet was a contribution of numerous meteorites or kites, in which ice is normally abundant, that hit the Earth during their formative stages.

Now, water is not still on our planet, but instead is the protagonist of a continuous cycle in which it changes its physical state and moves from one corner of the planet to another. Known as the hydrological cycle, it consists of the successive transformation of water from its liquid to gaseous state (evaporation) by the action of the sun's rays, and its cooling later in the atmosphere (condensation), where it falls in the form of raindrops (precipitation) or, if pressure and temperature conditions allow it, snow, frost or hail.

This circuit is not only important for the water to flow and reach places far from the sea or river coasts, but also which also allows to refresh the atmosphere and promote a stable climate, in addition to contributing to the flow of other elements and nutrients through rock erosion and runoff that carries minerals towards rivers and seas.

The water, in perspective

Although the water on our planet is abundant, not all of it is drinkable or available for direct consumption. In fact, most of the water is found in the oceans and seas (96.5% of the total) and has a high content of you go out that make it unsuitable for drinking, for example. The rest is found in solid form (1.74%) in polar caps and eternal snows, or in underground deposits and continental glaciers (1.72%). That leaves us with meager reserves of fresh water (0.04%) available in lakes, reservoirs and rivers, apart of which is found in the soil as moisture, as vapor in the atmosphere and as part of the body of living creatures.

In fact, life on Earth arose in water, billions of years ago, and vast numbers of living things continue to live in large bodies of fresh and salt water. And although many others have spread throughout the mainland and all the habitats possible, we all still need water to live. The amphibians They are a latent example of this: despite being adapted for terrestrial life, they must reproduce in water and live their first stages in it. And even in the case of entirely terrestrial beings, such as lizards, their life begins inside an egg whose content is mainly water. Almost two-thirds of the weight of the average human being is made up of water, and without taking enough of it we would die of dehydration long before we die of lack of water. food. Life is water.

References:

• "Informative text" in Wikipedia.
• "Water" in Wikipedia.
• "Water, its characteristics and properties" in CEUPE Magazine.
• "What are the physical and chemical characteristics of water?" on water.
• "Water" in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.

What is an informational text?

A information text or expository is one whose purpose is to provide the reader with data, observations and other information in an objective, concrete and formal way, without giving room for opinions, arguments or stories in its content. It is a very common type of text in the educational world, for example, or in the informative world, such as encyclopedias, textbooks or textbooks. Scientific articles.

Depending on the level of complexity of its language, an informative text can be directed to a general public (that is, informative texts) or to a public that handles the technical language in question (i.e. specialized texts).

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