The Wonders of Water

Your teacher, Miss Peach, is at the chalk board again. Class, listen up. Watch as she sketches a water strider on the blackboard. It is walking across the surface of a pond. How is this possible? Water has a high surface tension and high viscosity thanks to the strong hydrogen bond in the H2O molecule.

Miss Peach asks you as question. Why is this quality of water important for life to exist on Earth? Miss Peach breaks her chalk as she draws a picture of water flowing over rocks.

Little Johnny (the wise guy in the class) raises his hand, “Who cares?” 

Teacher leans on her desks and peers over her reading glasses. ”If water did not have the exact (she pounds the desk) viscosity, all life forms would cease to exist.”

Without this thickness of water, rocks would not erode. Water flows swiftly over rocks, carrying pebbles and sand. Particles picked up by water carry minerals and metals that are dumped in the soil, enriching it. Plants absorbed the nutrient-rich soil needed to sustain life. Animals drink from the stream, building strong bodies and remain part of complex ecosystems.

Michael Denton writes in his book, The Wonders of Water, “It is hard to conceive of a more ideal agent than water for dissolving the vital minerals in the Earth’s crust.”

Once again, fine-tuning of the universe rears its majestic head. God has created a supremely complex world for all for us to live and enjoy the beauty of creation.

More on this later.

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