CHEMISTRY OF OUR

ENVIRONMENT
17.3 WATER
 What is Water exactly ?
 Water, a substance composed of the chemical
elements hydrogen and oxygen and existing in gaseous, liquid, and solid
states.

 It is one of the most plentiful and essential of compounds.

 A tasteless and odorless liquid at room temperature, it has the important

ability to dissolve many other substances.

 All living things, from tiny cyanobacteria to giant blue whales , need
water to survive. Without water, life as we know it would not exist. And
life exists wherever there is water.
The tests for water- there are two things that
you can do :
 Add a few drops to white  Dip in a piece of dry blue cobalt
anhydrous copper (II) sulphate. chloride paper
• If it turns from white to blue • If it turns from blue to
then it’s water! pink then it’s water!
Distilled water
 Distilled water is water that has been boiled into vapor and condensed back into
liquid in a separate container.
 Impurities in the original water that do not boil below or near the boiling point of
water remain in the original container.

 Bottled distilled water can usually be found in supermarkets or pharmacies, and

home water distillers are available as well. Water purification, such as distillation, is
especially important in regions where water resources or tap water is not suitable
for ingesting without boiling or chemical treatment.

 Distillation removes all minerals from water.