Water (Science/Chemistry Discussion)

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by Seth, Feb 16, 2015.

  1. When water is warm it's molecules have so much energy that they bounce around randomly. When frozen, a tremendous amount if that energy is released and the bounds become strong. It crystallizes into hexagonal patterns when frozen which have a consistent amount of empty space...thus water expands when frozen. This is what water wants to do when in liquid state, just has to much energy to hold it together as such.
     
  2. correct. still gold though. you don't drink a glass of water and think, "hey i just tasted some deuterium".

    isotopes do have slightly different properties, but they are still the same element.
     
  3. Word, you make me want to hurt children! Do you not understand the premise of basic electron configuration? All elements attempt to be noble gasses (elements with all filled orbitals) by matching the number of electrons to a noble by bonds or charge.
     
  4. Isotopes are groups of elements, ions are signal unstable elements.

    An anion is a negatively charged element. A cation is a positively charged element.
     
  5. no other compound has the same relationship? what are you talking about?

    its a normal chemical bond.

    many other compounds are polar, just like water.


    water is weird, but none of its individual properties are unique.
     
  6. could you just go look up the definition of isotope real quick? please?
     
  7. All of the atoms of the SAME element have the same number of protons. This feature distinguishes atoms of ONE element from the atoms of all the other elements.
     
  8. I stand corrected
     
  9. *Grabs popcorn*

    I have a PhD in Chemistry lol, I better not start :lol: but you guys should really stop arguing, you are both technically correct... ;-)
     
  10. Koala, get involved! I want to learn AND discuss.
     
  11. Isotope - An atom that differs only in mass number from another atom of the same element. Isotopes have the same atomic number (number of protons) but different numbers of neutrons.
     
  12. okay. let's move on.

    this is fun. there ARE different forms of ice. different pressures and how quickly water freezes can both change the structure of ice.

    they have different numbers. ice 1, ice 8, ice 9 (read cat's cradle), ice 12, etc.
     
  13. :O I enjoy this discussion :)
     
  14. I thought there were only like ice 1-7, but they had accompanying variables like ice 1b or ice 5d or something.
     
  15. *wikipedia warning*

    Ordinary water ice is known as ice Ih in the Bridgman nomenclature. Different types of ice, from ice II to ice XVI, have been created in the laboratory at different temperatures and pressures.

    [/questionable reliability]
     
  16. Wordwaster is right about this one.

    Every specific element has a very specific number of protons, it is therefore determined by its number of protons. Oxygen has 8 protons (if I correctly read your OP), if you add one, you get a new chemical element as well if you take one away. That's what's happening (in a veeery simplyfied way) in fission and fusion.

    Electrons can be added or taken away, you are ionizing that atom in the process. More or less neutrons will create different isotopes.

    I do understand your allegory with H2O mimicking Neon, but I never heard of such an explanation before. Neon is a rare gas and is inert. Due to all its electron orbits filled with the maximum of electrons, it has no orbit trying to interact with other atoms. Inert - it doesn't interact with any other elements.

    Simplified an atom has a certain number of electrons orbiting around its nucleus. Those electrons are sitting in well specified orbits (energy levels) and every energy level can hold up to a maximum of electrons. Orbit 1: 2, Orbit 2: 8. As oxygen and hydrogen both have incomplete outer orbits of electrons, it is possible for them to create a common molecule. Oxygen is missing 2 electrons while hydrogen is missing 1 (or has 1 too many), so Oxygen will bind with 2 hygrogen atoms to form a stable water molecule. That's what happens in a very crude simplified way.
     
  17. Ice 16  wow. It's really interesting though.
     
  18. Orbit 1 (s): 2
    Orbit 2 (p): 6
    Orbit 3 (d): 10
    Orbit 4 (f): 14
     
  19. water is a truly fascinating thing. i am always a bit amazed when i think about how important it is to life and why.

    think about it. if water didn't float, it would sink. obvious, right? well think about what would happen if ice sunk. lakes would freeze from the bottom up. even the ocean would fill up with ice. water would freeze around the poles, and sink to the bottom. no liquid ocean = no life on earth.

    the fact that water is even a liquid at room temperature is amazing. it would be a gas if it weren't for the slight + charge on the hydrogen side and the slight - charge on the oxygen side.

    the amount of energy required to break that hydrogen bond means water can hold huge amounts of energy, and gives it up slowly. that is incredibly important in regulating the earth's temperature.
     
  20. And then the science behind it.

    Who knows bro. I feel bad because people will see the title and be like booooring and it will be just you and me going back and forth on this thread.