Should We Ban Dihydrogen Oxide??

There has been talk of banning this substance.

There are some good reasons for doing so.
It is very corrosive. (Darn stuff will dissolve almost ANYTHING!)
Accidentally inhaling it is often fatal.
It is a major component in acid rain as well.

Banning it won't be easy though. It is everywhere. As a matter of fact about 67% of the Earth's surface is covered with this chemical compound.

Yes I am talking about H20. Dihydrogen Oxide.
Commonly called water.

Also responsible for life in our corner of the cosmos. Kudos to this tongue in cheek web site about banning dihydrogen oxide.

Water is truly a strange and remarkable substance.

It is the only substance on earth that is common in all 3 states. Gas, liquid and vapor. It's atomic structure makes it adhesive and cohesive. Here is what I mean by that. Have you ever noticed how water clings to the side of glass as you tip it. If you look closely you will notice that in a glass, water dips down in the middle and up on the sides. You can also over fill a glass by a tiny fraction and it will not spill. That is COHESION.

Mercury is a toxic substance, but if you stick you finger in it and pull it out. Your finger will not be "wet". Try that with water. Yup, wet finger. That's ADHESION.

Most substances do not have these properties.

Water gets even stranger though. When most liquids are cooled they get more and more dense. Not water fresh water! It reaches maximum density at about 4°C. Then it gets less dense as it freezes and expands!!

The other incredible property of water is it's heat capacity. To raise 1 gram of water by 1°C takes 1 calorie of heat
(The calories on the back of your tv dinner box are 1000 times this calorie).

To raise the temperature of 1 gram of gasoline 1°C requires only half as much heat. Silver will go up 1° with 6/100's as much heat. The only common substance with a higher heat capacity than water is ammonia at 1.13 (Water is 1.00)

What this means in the real world is that water will soak up a lot of energy while raising its temperature only a little. This makes water the great moderator of our planets climate. It heats up and cools down much much more slowly than land.

If you have ever waited for a pot of water to boil, you know how much heat it takes to change water from a liquid to a vapor. The exact number is 540 calories per gram.

BUT here is the truly crucial point!

When that water vapor condenses in a thunderstorm or a hurricane back to liquid, that same 540 calories of heat is released back into the air! (Scientist call this the latent heat of condensation)

Yes, Rain actually heats up the atmosphere!!.

Hurricanes are tremendous heat engines because of this latent heat. Rain and snow are the primary way the earth moves heat from the equator to the poles. Winds and ocean currents are responsible for only about a third of the heat transfer.

This heat transfer is what makes weather. It keeps the poles from getting any colder and the tropics from getting any hotter. All because of this wierd substance called dihydrogen oxide.

I say we don't ban it after all.

Later,
Dan