MODULE 4

ONLINE
DISCUSSION
LET US PRAY...
Lord, Our God,
In your wisdom and love you surround us with the mysteries
of the universe.
Send uour spirit upon these students and fill them with your
wisdom and blessings.
Grant that they may devote themselves to their studies and
draw ever closer to you, the source of all knowledge.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
PROPERTIES OF
WATER
The Properties of Water
1. Boiling and Freezing Points
• The ability of water molecules to form hydrogen
bonds, as shown below, causes many of water's
unique characteristics.
• Despite having a small molecular weight, it has an
incredibly big boiling point (100°C).
• The boiling and freezing points of water enable the
molecules to be very slow to boil or freeze.
2. Specific Heat Capacity
• Specific heat capacity is the amount of heat required
to raise the temperature of one gram of a substance
by one degree Celsius.
• Every substance has its own specific heat capacity,
with the specific heat capacity of water being 1
cal/(g°C).
• The high specific heat of water helps the earth's
temperature remain moderate since water traps heat
during the day and releases it slowly at night.
3. It has a high heat of vaporization
• Water also has an exceptionally high heat of vaporization.
• Water's heat of vaporization is 41 kJ/mol. Because the
molecules of a liquid are in constant motion and possess a
wide range of kinetic energies, at any moment some
fraction of them has enough energy to escape from the
surface of the liquid to enter the gas or vapor phase.
• This process, called vaporization or evaporation, generates
a vapor pressure above the liquid. The heat of vaporization
is the heat required to induce this phase change (liquid to
gas).
4. It has a high surface tension
• Water has the highest surface tension for all liquids.
• Surface tension is a measurement of the amount of
force required to break this skin on the surface of
water.
• Other liquids have a surface tension as well, but the
surface tension in water is quite strong due to the
hydrogen bonds.
•Due to the surface tension, small objects will "float"
on the surface of a fluid, as long as the object cannot
break through and separate the top layer of water
molecules.
•When an object is on the surface of the fluid, the
surface under tension will behave like an elastic
membrane.