{"id":1102,"date":"2026-05-12T21:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T21:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/chapter\/the-properties-of-water\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T03:05:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T03:05:46","slug":"the-properties-of-water","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/chapter\/the-properties-of-water\/","title":{"raw":"1.1 The Properties of Water","rendered":"1.1 The Properties of Water"},"content":{"raw":"<div id=\"the-properties-of-water\" class=\"level1\">\r\n<div data-custom-style=\"First Paragraph\">\r\n\r\nPure water ([latex]H_{2}O[\/latex])\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>is clear, colorless;<\/li>\r\n \t<li>has no discernable taste or smell;<\/li>\r\n \t<li>at 1 atmosphere has a melting point of 0\u00a0\u00b0C and a boiling point of 100\u00a0\u00b0C; and<\/li>\r\n \t<li>has a density at 4\u00a0\u00b0C of 1.00\u00a0g\/cc (1,000 kg\/m<sup>3<\/sup>).<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<div data-custom-style=\"First Paragraph\">\r\n\r\nWater is present throughout the solar system, but other than on Earth it generally exists as a gas or solid. Earth is the only known planet with extensive bodies of liquid water on the surface. Liquid water most likely occurs in the subsurface on Mars, and there are likely extensive oceans of saline liquid water beneath the frozen surfaces of several moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Liquid water is essential for life as we know it, and it is one of the reasons Earth is such a unique place in the solar system.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div data-custom-style=\"Body Text\">\r\n\r\nOne of the things that makes water so unique is that it is a highly polar molecule (<a href=\"#Xf5c5ebeaeec2cc0c0c23b8ce0c3a9e21b8d7b01\"><span data-custom-style=\"Hyperlink\">Figure\u00a01<\/span><\/a>a)\u2014that is, the distribution of charges within the molecule results in a partial positive charge on one side and a partial negative charge on the other. Because of this, water is cohesive (<a href=\"#Xf5c5ebeaeec2cc0c0c23b8ce0c3a9e21b8d7b01\"><span data-custom-style=\"Hyperlink\">Figure\u00a01<\/span><\/a>b), and water molecules like to stick to each other as well as to surfaces and other molecules.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div data-custom-style=\"Captioned Figure\">\r\n\r\n<img style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; ;width: 5.75628in; height: 1.63478in;\" src=\"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/05\/file3-2.jpg\" alt=\"A black and white image of a formula Description automatically generated with medium confidence\" \/>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div data-custom-style=\"Block Text\">\r\n<blockquote>\r\n<div class=\"figcaption-text\">\r\n\r\n<span id=\"Xf5c5ebeaeec2cc0c0c23b8ce0c3a9e21b8d7b01\" class=\"anchor\"><strong>Figure\u00a01\u00a0\u2011<\/strong>\u00a0Model of water molecules showing a) molecule polarity and b) attraction between water molecules responsible for cohesiveness and surface tension.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<\/div><\/blockquote>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div data-custom-style=\"First Paragraph\">\r\n\r\nPolarity of the water molecule results in high surface tension and high solvent ability, which is why we say that water is the universal solvent.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div id=\"the-properties-of-water\" class=\"level1\">\n<div data-custom-style=\"First Paragraph\">\n<p>Pure water ([latex]H_{2}O[\/latex])<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>is clear, colorless;<\/li>\n<li>has no discernable taste or smell;<\/li>\n<li>at 1 atmosphere has a melting point of 0\u00a0\u00b0C and a boiling point of 100\u00a0\u00b0C; and<\/li>\n<li>has a density at 4\u00a0\u00b0C of 1.00\u00a0g\/cc (1,000 kg\/m<sup>3<\/sup>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div data-custom-style=\"First Paragraph\">\n<p>Water is present throughout the solar system, but other than on Earth it generally exists as a gas or solid. Earth is the only known planet with extensive bodies of liquid water on the surface. Liquid water most likely occurs in the subsurface on Mars, and there are likely extensive oceans of saline liquid water beneath the frozen surfaces of several moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Liquid water is essential for life as we know it, and it is one of the reasons Earth is such a unique place in the solar system.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-custom-style=\"Body Text\">\n<p>One of the things that makes water so unique is that it is a highly polar molecule (<a href=\"#Xf5c5ebeaeec2cc0c0c23b8ce0c3a9e21b8d7b01\"><span data-custom-style=\"Hyperlink\">Figure\u00a01<\/span><\/a>a)\u2014that is, the distribution of charges within the molecule results in a partial positive charge on one side and a partial negative charge on the other. Because of this, water is cohesive (<a href=\"#Xf5c5ebeaeec2cc0c0c23b8ce0c3a9e21b8d7b01\"><span data-custom-style=\"Hyperlink\">Figure\u00a01<\/span><\/a>b), and water molecules like to stick to each other as well as to surfaces and other molecules.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-custom-style=\"Captioned Figure\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; ;width: 5.75628in; height: 1.63478in;\" src=\"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2026\/05\/file3-2.jpg\" alt=\"A black and white image of a formula Description automatically generated with medium confidence\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-custom-style=\"Block Text\">\n<blockquote>\n<div class=\"figcaption-text\">\n<p><span id=\"Xf5c5ebeaeec2cc0c0c23b8ce0c3a9e21b8d7b01\" class=\"anchor\"><strong>Figure\u00a01\u00a0\u2011<\/strong>\u00a0Model of water molecules showing a) molecule polarity and b) attraction between water molecules responsible for cohesiveness and surface tension.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div data-custom-style=\"First Paragraph\">\n<p>Polarity of the water molecule results in high surface tension and high solvent ability, which is why we say that water is the universal solvent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-1102","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":1467,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1706,"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1102\/revisions\/1706"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/1467"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1102\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=1102"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=1102"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=1102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}