Water Distribution on Earth

Properties of Water

The hydrogen bonds in water is what makes it so incredible.

Properties of Water
•Polarity: Unequal sharing of electrons in the water
molecule (2 Hydrogens and 1 Oxygen)

Cohesion and Adhesion

•Adhesion: Water molecules stick to other substances.

•Cohesion: Water molecules stick to each other.

High Surface Tension

•Property allowing liquid to resist external force.

Super Solvent

•Can dissolve any other substance.

High Specific Heat and Heat of Vaporization

Specific Heat: The amount of heat that it takes to change the temperature by 1 degree.
Water can hold a lot of heat before boiling.

Density of Water

Density of Water

States of Water

•Water is the only substance on Earth that occurs naturally as a solid, liquid, and gas.

•Often called the UNIVERSAL SOLVENT

•Other substances dissolve in it easily.

Water Distribution

•Water covers approximately 71% of the Earth’s surface.

•Most of it (97%) is not drinkable because it is salt water.

•Only 3% exists as freshwater and most of that is frozen in glaciers and ice caps.

•77% of the freshwater is frozen and the remaining 23% (less than half a percent of all water on Earth) is available as a resource for humans.

Water Availability

•Varies depending on local
geography.

Water Cycle Runoff

•Runoff from precipitation can seep into the ground to become groundwater.

•Depends on the permeability of the rock

•Permeability: Measure of the ability of a porous material to allow fluids to pass through it.

Aquifer

•Large deposit of groundwater that can be extracted and used.

River Basin

•Portion of land drained by a river and its tributaries.

•It encompasses the entire land surface drained by various streams and creeks that flow downhill into one another and
eventually into one river.

•The destination will be the mouth of the river where the water meets the ocean.

There are 17
river basins in
North Carolina.

River Basin

•Even if you do not live
near an ocean, you still
live in some river basin.

TAKE NOTES from this presentation! ​