HYDROLOGY 1.7 Water as a Physical Substance. The remarkable properties of water as a physical substance arise from its molecular structure. Filling the first electron shell around an atom requires two electrons, and filling the second shell requires eight more elec- trons; a hydrogen atom possesses one electron of its own, so it pairs up with an oxygen electron to complete its first shell; oxygen possesses eight electrons of its own, and by bonding with two hydrogen atoms it acquires the 10 electrons necessary to complete its second shell. Thus H,O is created. Two unshared electron pairs are left on the oxygen atom. These form, with the hydrogen atoms, a tetrahedral structure around the oxygen atom (Fig. 1.2.3). The two hydrogen vertices of this structure are slightly positively charged because their electron is preferentially located near the oxygen atom; the other two vertices con- taining oxygen’s electron pairs are slightly negatively charged, thus creating a dipole between the vertices and permitting water molecules to form polar or hydrogen bonds with one another. These bonds are 10 to 50 times weaker than the covalent bonds between hydrogen and oxygen within the molecule,‘ but they are strong enough to cause water molecules to cluster in tetrahedral patterns, as shown for ice in Fig. 1.2.4a. Changing State. \ce, though cold, possesses heat energy which is expressed by the vibration of the atoms and molecules in this fixed structure; as ice gets warmer, these vibrations increase to the point where the tetrahedral structure breaks down, ice melts, and its molecules mix slightly closer in water than they did in ice (Fig. 1.2.45). Asa result, water is slightly more dense than ice at its melting point, and ice floats on the surface of lakes, thus preventing deeper waters from freezing and protecting the aquatic life within them. Were it not for this property, ice formed at the surface of lakes would sink to the bottom until eventually many lakes would freeze solid. In the colder climates of the earth, repeated daily cycles of water freezing and thawing are an important factor in rock weathering: water percolates into rock cracks and expands as it freezes, thus generating a pressure of as much as 30,000 psi (207,000 kPa), sufficient to crack even the most durable rock. * © Unshared electron pairs Oxygen @ Hydrogen FIGURE 1.2.3 The tetrahedral structure of a water molecule. (Source: Horne, R. A., “Marine Chemistry,” © 1969 by John Wiley and Son, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)