is water more than the sum of its parts ?
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From what I understand how can water ever be more than what it is made up of?:shrug:
It wouldn't be water any longer if something more was included.
It wouldn't be water any longer if something more was included.
It has atoms of oxygen and hydrogen that bond together to become a molecule of water.
This seems to be more of a question of philosophy than chemistry. If you define water only as a molecule the water as substance of many molecules are properties not found in a single molecule of water (the properties arising through the interaction of water molecules). If you define water as simple atoms of protons and oxygen than not only is water more through molecular interactions but through properties inherent of a single molecule of water. For example a molecules of water have electronic polarity which neither oxygen nor hydogen atoms have (though they are still subject to London dispersion force, which is why they manage to form liquids at all)
I believe you (and others) are overlooking what's really important here.
YES, it is MUCH, MUCH more than just the sum of it's parts.
Consider a volume of free hydrogen and oxygen. Elements, yes, but that's about it. However, when combined into water they form what is called the "universal solvent" - meaning most things will form a solution when they come in contact with it. Liquid water is also the very basis of life as we know it, thanks to that.
It also has a powerful ability to shape the face of the planet - something the plain gasses alone would have little effect on.
I could easily write two or three more paragraphs (about weather, moderation of climate, etc.) but I suspect you are stsrting to get the picture by now.
I believe you (and others) are overlooking what's really important here.
YES, it is MUCH, MUCH more than just the sum of it's parts.
Consider a volume of free hydrogen and oxygen. Elements, yes, but that's about it. However, when combined into water they form what is called the "universal solvent" - meaning most things will form a solution when they come in contact with it. Liquid water is also the very basis of life as we know it, thanks to that.
It also has a powerful ability to shape the face of the planet - something the plain gasses alone would have little effect on.
I could easily write two or three more paragraphs (about weather, moderation of climate, etc.) but I suspect you are stsrting to get the picture by now.
write at least 5 paragraphs Read-Only
I've gotten you off to a very good start - now it's your turn.
water is electromagnetic , Neutral in Nature , hence waters ph
water is the manifestation of the energy in the space between the proton and electron
The universal solvent bit is actually pretty funny. The ancient alchemists spent a lot of time searching for the universal solvent, not realizing that they were drinking the closest thing to it every day! Even funnier, if they truly had found a solvent that would disolve absolutely anything........what would they have stored it in?
Water is seldomn neutral in nature, but then, pure water is seldom found in nature.
Water is neutral in pH because the same molecule that gives a proton, leaves behind a Hydroxide ion, this 1 to 1 stoichiometry gives it a neutral pH.
Water is electrically neutral, yes, however an individual water molecule has an over all electric dipole - the Oxygen atom holds the electrons more closely to it then the hydrogen atoms do, giving the hydrogen atoms a slight positive charge, and the oxygen atom a slight negative charge (see electronegativity).
Water is liquid at room temperature, unlike the other Group 16 Hydrides (or the Hydrides on either side of it) because the dipole moment is strong enough, and the water can form hydrogen bonds enough that it has a substantially elevated boiling point.
Ammonia and Hydrogen Flouride also form hydrogen bonds, however, Ammonia has fewer free non bonding electrons then water, and Hydrogen Flouride has fewer hydrogens.
Water just happens to fill that niche where the Oxygen is small enough and electronegative enough that it can form a strong dipole moment and the molecule can form more than one hydrogen bond per molecule (as opposed to Ammonia and Hydrogen flouride which can only form one per molecule).
water is the manifestation of the energy in the space between the proton and electron[/QUOTE]
When you ask a question like that your summoning philosophics. Whole books have been written about water, infinite discussion can be summoned from the simplest subject, which is why science is divided into section of relevances, water has importance from geography to biology (al Read-Only) to chemistry and physics. If you want to talk about water beyond what it is chemically that not relevant to this subforum.
I did. I don't think it can be simplified more without reiteration, calling something by its part does not describe its whole, steel does not describe the totality of a gun, an ant does not describe the totality of etymology, hydrogen and oxygen does not describe the totality of water.
Hydrogen is often confusing because the word means both the element and the molecule H2, thus proton or protium is a better descriptor of just the atom of hydrogen.
So you're essentially asking whether the liquid water demonstrates unique properties not exhibited by individual water molecules?
Wouldn't that be a given?