Dejarme, Alyssa Jill M.

February 24,
2017
Engineering Economy

The Importance of Water

Water is the softest thing, yet it can penetrate mountains and earth.
This shows clearly the principle of softness overcoming hardness
-Lao Tzu

Water is essential to our life. Water is the most basic substance of life. Water is a
basic need by humans, animals and even microbes. In fact, human consists 75 percent of
water when they were born and around goes to 66 percent after a year.

Existence of water is life. There is news about how scientist sent a rover to Mars to
check if there is any water. If there is water, there should be a sign of life. Jim Green,
director of NASAs Planetary Science Division, states, The more we examine the solar
system, and the more we realize its a soggy place.

Autotrophs produce food from inorganic compounds; the heterotrophs use organic
molecules as food. Some bacteria and some archaea have this ability. But note that all
these life forms consist of cells with cytoplasm, where water is an important part. The
cytoplasm is the part of a cell that is enclosed within the plasma membrane.

In living organism, water has number of roles. It is a solvent, temperature buffer,

metabolite, living environment, and lubricant to minimize friction. The water amount in
the human body constitutes about 60% of the body weight. Of this, 20% is extracellular
body fluid which is made of 5% plasma and 15% tissue fluid. The tissue fluid and the
plasma are in a steady state with the fluid inside the cells. There is a strict balance
between water intake and water losses (homeostasis) (Hansleimer, 2011).

To keep biological processes running, a constant supply of energy (mainly from the
Sun) is needed. The two laws of thermodynamics are fundamental: (i) Energy is
conserved, neither created nor destroyed. Energy may be transformed e.g. from the
energy in a chemical bond to heat energy; the total amount always remains unchanged.
(ii) Entropy measures disorder in natural systems. The entropy tends to increase in all
natural systems. These two laws can be applied to biological systems. Organisms are
highly organized. This organization can only be maintained by a constant supply of
energy. This energy is used by the cell to do work, some of that energy is lost as heat, we
call this dissipation (Hansleimer, 2011).

Triangularwave states, A water molecule, because of its shape, is a polar

molecule. That is, it has one side that is positively charged and one side that is
negatively charged. The molecule is made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen
atom. The bonds between the atoms are called covalent bonds, because the atoms share
electrons. The hydrogen atoms have one electron each.

So, we sometimes wonder, How can this affect my life? What does polar molecule
mean?
 When two water molecules get close together, the polar forces work to draw the
molecules together. The oxygen atom of one water molecule will bond with several
hydrogen atoms of other water molecules. These bonds are called hydrogen bonds.
Hydrogen bonds are not as strong as covalent bonds, but they are strong enough to bind
water molecules together and give water its unique characteristics. Two of those
characteristics are: water's great ability to dissolve materials, and water's lower density
when it is frozen. stated in Triangularwave.

Water as a solvent helps in a lot of ways like by simply cleaning the dishes to
digesting food in our body. With water, digestion is much easier. When the water is
frozen, it has lower density, which means that water float when they are frozen.

Water as a temperature buffer, is it absorbs a great amount of energy with a large

range of temperature swings compared to other substance. Sun is gives warmth. Sun is
important to humans. Without it we will not survive. The 2/3 of the earths surface is
water. Water helps the earth to cool down. And it is important to living organism to live in
a narrow temperature range. At high temperature (above 40C) the biomolecules start to
breakdown and at low temperature (near 0C) the chemical reactions for metabolism
occur too slowly (Hansleimer, 2011).

Incoming solar radiation is absorbed by land and sea and reflected into space by
water, snow and also land surfaces. Half of the energy plants absorb is used in
evaporating water, only 12% of the sunlight falling on the surface is available for
photosynthesis. However, this small percentage is the energy base for any life in the
biosphere.

Water in metabolic diversity, metabolism is the chemical reactions that occur

inside an organism. ATP (adenosine triphosphate) transports chemical energy within cells
for metabolism. Water acts like vehicles of these substances that going around in the
body.

Within plant cells there are the chloroplasts that contain chlorophyll. The
chlorophyll molecules absorb light energy and create chemical bonds that serve as the
fuel for all subsequent cellular metabolisms. Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration,
water plays an important role. Photosynthesis as an energy source is limited to at most
the top few hundred meters of water bodies, and to the land surface. Animals and
humans eat plants or other animals that have eaten plants. Organic molecules in the
food are broken through cellular respiration to obtain energy (Hansleimer, 2011).

Two-third of earths surface is water. 97 percent of the worlds water is too salty to
drink. 2 percent is locked up in glaciers. And less than 1percent is left for drinking,
agriculture, industry, and nature. Less the 3 percent of earths water is fresh. 70 percent
of that fresh water is locked up in ice and glaciers. Out of the 1 percent, 66.67 percent of
that is for growing plants for food, 0.007 percent is for drinking water and the other left is
for industrial and others. Human body has 42 litres of water; loss of 2.7 liters can cause
dehydration that is how important water is. On the other side, too much water can also
cause death.

Resources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIaw5mCjHPI

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=water

http://www.triangularwave.com/a1b1.htm