Geeking out

I found myself thinking last night about how cool water is.

I mean it! Its atomic structure makes it pretty unique! But we rarely think about it beyond what we're taught in high school.

The way the two hydrogen atoms attach to the oxygen atom forms a slightly polar structure - slightly positive at the hydrogen end, and slightly negative at the oxygen end. This is the reason why you can slightly overfill containers so there is a dome of water overtop the actual top of your cup - the charges are enough that the water holds itself together (to a certain point).

And it's pretty much unique when it comes to solid vs liquid forms. Most things, when in the solid form, have their molecules/atoms tightly packed, and in liquid form, they are slightly more apart than when in solid form.

Water, when frozen, expands. Its molecules move further apart than when in liquid form, which is why if you freeze a bottle of water it will explode sometimes. It gets too big when frozen.

How fucking cool is that?

I mean, it's something you don't really think about. Water is just there, you drink it to live, don't think about it otherwise. But every single living thing on earth relies on it in some way.