Hey there, I’m Jason Sumner, and I love to learn new things
Every time I learn something new, my brain gets a little bigger
So I can understand the world a little better, and this world is awesome
So today I’d like to talk to you about one of my favorite molecules,
Water
Everybody knows about water
Even people in space have to bring water to drink, and someone said that we are made up of 70% water.
You shouldn’t trust that number by the way, “someone said” doesn’t make it 100% true.
I’ll look up the evidence for an accurate number, and understand how they measure that stuff, but for now it kinda makes sense.
Some people say H Two Oh, and it’s probably because Water is made out of two H- Hydrogens, plus an O- Oxygen
There’s a bubble looking picture with a ball in the middle, the Oxygen, with two arms of a V which would be the hydrogens
One of the reasons that Water is one of my favorite molecules is because it’s easy to split it in pieces. OH goes one way, the extra H goes a different way and sometimes they get back together and turn back into HOH.
Now you may think that’s kinda lame, who cares if it can split into pieces, and then go back together again. Well, these pieces are called Ions, positive hydrogen and negative OH come back to neutral HOH flavored water.
Well, that’s not interesting at all.
But, if you take out some of the OH or add some extra Hydrogens, the water gets more active. Active? Active. It turns to acid. And acid can dissolve heavy metal. Remind me to talk about Zeppelins later.
So water can break apart, and dissolve stuff. Is there any other reason that water is your FAVORITE molecule?
Yes.
And it might seem like no big deal at first, but stay with me.
Have you ever seen an ice cube floating in water?
And when you take a sip the water is nice and cold and refreshing and awesome?
There is another reason it’s awesome.
Almost all molecules can make up solids, liquids, gasses, and plasma, but I don’t know a ton about plasma, and I do like saying the word plasma, even if I don’t really know what a plasma is.
Anywhoozle.
When solids increase temperature, their atoms start jiggling and can eventually relax into a liquid, which moves around a lot easier.
And the atoms are jiggling more so they need more room, right?
Not always.
Water can find a way to go from a flowing, fluid, everybody has room kind of thing
Into a rigid, solid, unmoving place where everything is much closer
With an ice crystal
All the atoms line up the same way to make a repeating pattern, like a snowflake, and they’re nice and tight along the spine but take up more room on the arms. So liquid water is more dense than solid water.
Real quick, I also love water because the snow has a pure white color. When light hits it, it shines bright.
Ok, a little bit cool, but what else do you got.
Do you remember that glass of ice water
How the coldest water was at the top with the ice, and it would make sense that the water at the bottom would be a little bit warmer. Unless you stir it up. But don’t do that for now.
The ice, especially shaved ice, and snow, and fluffy solid water is even less dense, and covers the solid ice.
Are you ready?
For the biggest reason that water is one of my favorite molecules.
Can do dissolve stuff,
Warm water can exist below frozen water
And the slushy snow and ice mixture will insulate the water underneath
Think about a lake that is one mile deep.
All the way at the bottom, warm water can just sit there.
Solid ice won’t crash down and disturb it, and nothing else is stirring it up
You actually get a protective crust, so rocks won’t crash down either
And the snow reflects sunlight from disturbing the bottom too
What happens after a million years? Or a billion? Or some big number that has to do with math. And I don’t want a math test today.
Remember that things can dissolve in water.
What’s at the bottom of the lake?
At my lake, there is carbon.
What do you mean, your lake has carbon, can my lake have meatballs?
My lake had carbon. A Bazillion years ago, and these carbons dissolved in the calm warm water and took their time getting super complex, and then make carbohydrates, carbons with hydrogens.
Scientists have shown that under certain conditions, if water is left alone under certain conditions, with carbon and some other molecules, then some of the carbon can organize itself into different amino acids, almost like water making snowflakes, where the more complex molecule is ordered and stable.
By the way, Amino Acids are some of my other favorite molecules, but that might not be until episode 27
Amino acids make up people. And cows, And trees. Even mushrooms. And squids.
My super deep lake, that is undisturbed for eons and has just the right amount af carbons and stuff?
Life could come out of that lake. And I believe that forever long ago, the spark of life that created my first ancestor happened in that lake, and there was water in that lake. Good old H two Oh.
That’s why my lake has carbon, because if there wasn’t any carbon, I wouldn’t be me. I wouldn’t be here at all.
And I don’t think that your lake can have meatballs in your lake.
Because without carbon and water plus a couple other miracles, you’re meatballs wouldn’t exist
But I do exist
And so do you
Thanks to water
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