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Water’s important physical properties
Question 1
The freezing and boiling point of water is higher compared to other compounds of its molecular compound because it has strong hydrogen bonds between molecules. Water in the liquid state can form hydrogen bonds, which are very hard to break. This increases the size of the molecules, which then increase the van der Waals forces, which are to break and hence, the high boiling point.
Question 2
Water has a high heat capacity, which means it requires more energy to increase the temperature of the water as matched to other substances. Since there are strong hydrogen bonds in water, the kinetic energy of its particles must be increased to increase its temperature. This high heat capacity affects the climate in that since water covers about 70% of the earth, it helps controls the temperature. The high heat capacity facilitates the absorption of heat, which therefore prevents the rise in temperatures.
Question 3
The latent heat of vaporization is higher than that of melting since the energy required to part molecules from liquid to gas is greater than separating molecules, moving solid to liquid. When a material melts, it only breaks the bonds keeping it together, but when it vaporizes, it destroys all bonds that connect it even to other molecules and hence the high vapourization rate.
Question 4
Latent heat flux converts liquid and solid water into vapor in locations with high temperatures and then moves the vapor to cooler locations through horizontal and vertical circulation. The vapor is then condensed into rain or deposited as snow, which releases the heat within it.
Question 5
When the two opposing effects are at balance, water achieves its maximum density. At high temperatures, molecules bounce off each other, and at lower temperatures, ice crystals are formed, which pushes molecules apart. The temperature at which these two factors compete for causes the density of water to maximize.
Question 6
Ice is denser than water since when water molecules freeze, they take a form that has large amount of space, and sine molecules are more close in liquid form water becomes denser than ice. This is unusual since most substances are denser in their solid-state, not their liquid states.