By: A.M., IANtB Science Editor
Happy World Water Day!
I thought I’d drop some watery science to celebrate. Everyone knows that water is liquid awesome, and this is due in no small part to its amazing, versatile properties. The surface tension that we see demonstrated in this photo represents a combination of the properties of cohesion (water molecules sticking to each other via hydrogen bonds) and adhesion (water sticking to other stuff). The hydrogen bonds between the H2O molecules are so strong that they resist gravity! Water serves many important purposes in nature. It facilitates vital chemical reactions in your body, helps regulate stuff going in and out of cells, and keeps your lungs from collapsing! That really is liquid awesome.
A Jaguar emerges from a lake
A shark captured just before breaking the surface
Olympic Swimmer Tyler Clary – Photo by Adam Pretty/Getty Images.
A paper clip molds into the surface of a glass of water – Wikimedia Commons
Drops of water on a penny
A bug aptly named a “water strider” – Wikimedia Commons
A double-crested basilisk — also aptly named, “the Jesus lizard” — runs across water in Santa Rita, Costa Rica, in 2008. Photograph by Bence Mate. – Nature Picture Library/Corbis
An ant photographed by Vadim Trunov
Space station astronauts shove a GoPro into a water bubble…because science. – NASA
…And here’s the video of what the GoPro saw from inside the bubble; It’s wicked cool!
Here at IANtB, we celebrate water all year long by working with Waves for Water to bring clean water to communities that don’t have any. We have partnered with the Hamlin Fistula hospitals in Ethiopia to send the women who are treated at their facilities home with water filters. It’s beautiful: they arrive at the hospitals broken and rejected from their communities, and they are sent home heroes, holding their heads high. Read more about the project here.
