Prelim Chemistry - Water Water is a very important substance that is needed by all living organisms.

Approximately 70% of the Earths surface is covered by water. In our human body, water is found in blood, and in plants, water is found in the stem and roots of the plant. In organisms, water acts like a transport medium that transports nutrients and wastes. In plants, water is needed for metabolic reactions like photosynthesis, respiration and in other organisms (like humans), theres digestion. Water contains a constant temperature, which helps reduce drastic temperature changes in plants and animals. Water also acts as a weathering agent in nature where rocks or any other abiotic factor is weathered away by water. Solvent is a substance that dissolves and solute is a substance that is being dissolved. Together, solute and solvent produces a solution. The biosphere includes all living components and their habitats. Its not a very large component of the Earth. The distribution isnt evenly spread since it depends on the availability of water. Water is also found in organisms. The hydrosphere involves all bodies of water on Earth. Overall, 97% of the water available is in the ocean, 2% of water found in glaciers and icecaps, 0.6% is found underground as groundwater, and the remaining amount is fresh water, lakes, rivers and ponds. The atmosphere involves air on Earth. In the atmosphere, you may find clouds in the form of water droplets, water vapour, snow, hail, ice or precipitation. The lithosphere includes the crust, soil and solids on the Earth. The hydrological cycle or water cycle is a cycle that involves a lot of processes where water circulates between the land, hydrosphere of the Earth and the atmosphere of the Earth. Theres evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, and runoffs. Erosion is the process of wearing away rocks by wind, water/rain or by other natural agents whereas weathering is breaking down or changing the appearance or shape of something (like rocks) by long exposure to the atmosphere or by running water. An example of weathering would be where rocks have water inside of them and the water would expand the inside of the rock when cooling down which would eventually break the rock. Specific Heat Capacity (SHC) is the amount of energy needed or the number of heat units needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of a substance (or body) by 1 degree Celsius. All substances have different SHCs, like for example: water needs 4.18 joules per gram in order to heat up by 1 degree Celsius. When heat is absorbed or released in a chemical reaction, it is either exothermic or endothermic. Endothermic means a reaction that absorbs energy, which loses heat, and the chemical reaction would be colder. Exothermic means releasing or giving off energy that releases heat, and the chemical reaction would be hotter. To measure or determine the amount of heat absorbed or released, we use a calorimeter. Water is a molecule that consists of molecules that contain 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom each. There are different shapes of molecules, like linear, bent, tetrahedron and so on. An atom is the basic unit of a chemical element. Each atom has a proton (that is positive), a neutron (that doesnt have a charge so its neutral), and an electron (thats negative). Atoms contain a nucleus that consists of protons and neutrons, and the electrons orbit quickly around the nucleus in shells. An intramolecular force is a force of attraction or repulsion between the atoms in a molecule. So in a molecule, the atoms that are contained in the molecule have an intramolecular force. An intermolecular force is a force of attraction or repulsion between a molecule to another molecule. So between two molecules, theres a force of either attraction or repulsion between them both. An example of an intramolecular force would be the hydrogen and oxygen atoms in water and an example of an intermolecular force would be a water molecule with another water molecule. Between atoms or molecules, there is an attraction called a bond. The bond strength and bond energy is the amount of attraction in bonds. The distance between atoms or molecules in a bond is called a bond length. If the bond length is short, the bond energy and the bond strength is strong and vice versa.