Water: it is the driving force behind our planet. It is what makes life possible on earth. Water is what runs so many other environmental and biological systems on our planet. But to know how water drives our planet, we first need to know what is the driving force behind water.
Water has the ability to absorb and release vast amounts of heat. This helps to keep the earth’s surface thermostatic. This also helps regulate weather patterns. Heat currents travel from the equator to the poles and then back. This powers earth’s storms, wind and ocean currents. The latent heat of fusion in water is the highest of all common liquids and most solids. The latent heat of vaporization is the heat energy in water vapor.
Water is a polar molecule. A water molecule has a negative pole exposed on the oxygen atom and two positive poles exposed on the hydrogen atoms. The negative ends of the hydrogen atoms bond with the positive end of the oxygen atom. Water molecules exist in a bent shape. This allows for water to be a universal solvent. Water can dissolve many common solids and liquids.
Water has thermostatic properties which allows it to moderate changes in temperature. The property of thermal inertia allows a substance, such as water, to resist change in temperature whether energy is gained or lost. The property of ice means that ice provides a moderating thermostatic effect even if it doesn’t get warm enough to melt. The property of water and air movement describes how water and air currents keep the equator from boiling.
Salinity is the total concentration of dissolved inorganic solids in a body of water. It measures the total amount of salts in water. Salinity is measured by a salinometer; this is done by determinin...
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... pressure is 1atm, equal to the atmosphere above it. Water pressure increases by this amount every 10 meters of depth.
Now that we know a little more about the properties in and of seawater, we can greater understand how it affects life in the ocean as well as life on land. We can also greater appreciate and understand how our weather systems and climate patterns work, and what we can do to preserve them.
Works Cited
Class Notes; Marine science class; January 26, 2010- February 2, 2010.
Oceanography textbook; Houghton Mifflin; New York, NY; February 2, 2010
Mr. Clark; Marine science class; January 26, 2010- February 2, 2010.
USGS: The water cycle; http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercyclysummary.html; February 21, 2010
How stuff works: water pressure; http://geography.howstuffworks.com/oceans-and-seas/thegeographyofoceans2.htm; February 21, 2010
Thermodynamics is essentially how heat energy transfers from one substance to another. In “Joe Science vs. the Water Heater,” the temperature of water in a water heater must be found without measuring the water directly from the water heater. This problem was translated to the lab by providing heated water, fish bowl thermometers, styrofoam cups, and all other instruments found in the lab. The thermometer only reaches 45 degrees celsius; therefore, thermodynamic equations need to be applied in order to find the original temperature of the hot water. We also had access to deionized water that was approximately room temperature.
understanding of how the oceans work. The hope is that as a result, we will
At a constant temperature, a pure liquid has a vapor pressure that describes the pressure of escaped gaseous molecules that exist in equilibrium at the liquid’s surface. Adding energy to a pure liquid gives more molecules the kinetic energy to break the intermolecular forces maintaining the liquid and raises the overall temperature of the liquid. Eventually, adding energy boosts the liquid’s vapor pressure until it equals the surrounding atmospheric pressure. When this occurs, the pure liquid boils at a temperature called the boiling point.
Water greatly affected technological, economic, political, and legal developments. Technology has to advance in order to get more water while the economy, politics, and laws began to change due to the need for more water, and to this day it has had a lasting effect. Water will always play a major role in our past, present, and future.
This subcategory focuses on studying ocean and atmosphere interaction, and in turn how it affects and shapes our world. One main reason it is important is , because it is essential to Earth’s climate and weather. The ocean is crucial to heating the planet along with causing changes in the weather. When ocean water evaporates, it makes the air warmer and humid, which in turn causes rain and storms. Along with this, ocean currents act as transport vessels for warm water. They distribute the warm water from the equator up and outward to the poles. This keeps the equator and other areas from having extreme
The currents at the surface of the ocean are split in to two categories, tidal currents and surface currents. Tidal currents occur around land masses and are influenced mainly by the gravitational pull of our sun and moon. They change rapidly but predictably and contribute to surface currents. Surface currents occur over different areas of earth’s ocean. Two main factors affecting the surface currents are wind and the Coriolis Effect. The Coriolis Effect explains how the rotation of the earth seems to cause a deflection of anything moving above the earth’s surface. It is this effect that causes winds and water in the northern hemisphere to appear to deflect to the right and in the southern hemisphere to deflect to the left. One of the major surface currents is the Gulf Stream. Water in around the Caribbean is warmed by the sun and then carried north and east along the coast North America. These sun warmed waters release their stored energy into the westerly winds and Northern Europe benefits by having a much milder winter than t...
Energy transfer had occurred with the “warmer” temperature (water) tried equalizing with the “colder” temperature (ice). But, when this happened, a phase change occurred. As the table above indicates, when the water temperature reached 0 degrees Celsius, it stayed the same because the water particles were losing kinetic energy which led the particles to stop colliding. Once this happened the particles created bonds against each other which resulted in ice. This phase change occurred from the 24 minute mark all the way to the 30 minute mark. Heat of fusion had started from the 24 minutes
Each water molecule consists of one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms. The oxygen atom (or the apex of the water molecule) bears a slight electronegative charge while hydrogen possesses a more positive one. Because opposite charges attract, the water molecules are drawn together. When an oxygen atom is linked to a neighboring molecule's hydrogen atom, a bond called a hydrogen bond is formed. In an ice crystal the hydrogen bonds to give the shape of the crystal so that the grid of molecules surrounds relatively to large spaces. In a liquid form, water has no such spaces; so ice is less dense and will float on liquid water. If not for this, great bodies of water would freeze from the bottom up without the insulation of a top layer of ice and all life in the water would die.
Earth is the only planet in the Solar System that has liquid water. The ocean contains ninety seven percent of the earth’s water and covers almost three quarters of the planet. There are four different oceans, the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and the Arctic. Tides and currents occur in all three of these oceans. Many different kinds of fish and mammals also make their homes in these oceans. All of these oceans are connected to each other in some way. Humans find oceans to be very interesting, beautiful, and exploring.
Climate change is evidenced through shifts in the weather patterns such as winds, humidity and temperatures over certain durations. Natural climate changes occur less frequently and they are triggered by factors related to geographical aspects as well as solar radiation. The earth’s movement on the orbit triggers changes in climate, causing some areas to have higher temperatures than usual, while others are significantly cold depending on the position of the earth on the orbit. The heat from the sun causes changes in the stratospheric ozone and it increases the amount of greenhouse gases. Heat from the oceanic crust also contributes to warming as a result of episodic hydrothermal venting (Liao & Sandeberg, 2012).
The thermohaline circulation cycle (THC) delivers heat to the North Atlantic. In the winter the heat from the water is released into the eastward moving air masses like the Gulf Stream, thereby warming much of western and northern Europe. Cooling in the North Atlantic increases the density of the 'upper ocean water' to the point at which it becomes so dense that it sinks to the bottom and flows south towards the Antarctic, forming the 'lower limb' of this conveyor belt of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) (1583 Broecker).
The ocean can serve man purposes things for many different people; as a school, a home, a park...
The sun makes the water evaporate in the sea and in lakes, which rises and thus is
Water covers about seventy one percent of Earth’s surface. Earth is the only planet to have stable bodies of liquid water on its surface which is crucial for all known life forms. Water is a substance which acts as a solvent in which organic compounds can mix, and it is the substance which is thought to be necessary to facilitate the formation of life. There are many forms of water which include ice, liquid, and gas. Because water can exist as a gas, it can be stored in the atmosphere and be delivered as precipitate. Water also helps regulate the climat...
... water moves around the Earth causing our weather. The average weather in an area during a long period of time is climate.