ARTSENSE Acrylics Collection. n#5. Water chemistry.
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"Water plays an important role as a chemical substance. Its many important functions include being a good solvent for dissolving many solids, serving as an excellent coolant both mechanically and biologically, and acting as a reactant in many chemical reactions. Blood, sweat and tears... all solutions of water".
Many fundamental particles were formed in the big bang, including the basic building blocks of all atoms: protons, neutrons, and electrons and also the two lightest elements, hydrogen and helium. Some heavier elements were created in the Big Bang, but only in trace amounts, the heavier elements, such as oxygen were synthesized during the evolution of stars.
"Stars contain mostly hydrogen. The pressure and temperature is so great in the core that hydrogen is fused together to form helium. Since the mass of helium is less than that of the hydrogen necessary to create it, energy is released according to Einstein's formula: E = mc2, where E is the energy, m is the difference in mass, and c is the speed of light. 90 per cent of a star's lifetime is spent fusing hydrogen into helium. Once the hydrogen is used up, helium begins fusing and one of the by products of that process is oxygen. Depending on the mass of the star, all the heavy elements up to iron can be created in succeeding fusion reactions or nucleosynthesis ."
There is strong evidence that life on earth appeared in a body of water. Water dissolves or emulsifies other life-supporting substances and transport them to intercellular and intracellular fluids. It is also a medium in which reactions take place. Reactions provide energy (non-matter) for living. Energy causes changes, and manifestation of changes is at least related to, if not the whole, life.
Citations are from H20 - The Mystery, Art, and Science of Water. Chris Witcombe and Sang Hwang of Sweet Briar College.