Some of sciences greatest mysteries have to do with the strange ways that water behaves. Water should be a gas at room temperature, but it’s not. You would think that ice is heavier than liquid water, but it’s not. Water can have amazing health restorative properties, or it can poison you. Test your knowledge of water with these five amazing but true facts about water.
Most of our drinking water comes from just one ten thousandth of one percent of Earth’s water
A lot less drinkable water than you might think: Rivers are the source of most of the fresh water we drink, yet rivers constitute just 1/10,000th of a percent of all water on Earth. There is actually more freshwater underground than there is on the surface of the Earth. Most of the freshwater is locked up in glaciers and icecaps. Over 96% of the water on Earth is saltwater.
One of the scariest facts about water: Of that precious 1/10,000th of one percent of all water, most of it is polluted with man-made chemicals. This is why you should properly filter your water before drinking it.
Ice is lighter than liquid water
The solid form of water floats instead of sinking because ice is lighter than liquid water. The reason is that ice is actually less dense than liquid water. The reason that liquid water is liquid even though it’s less dense is that in liquid form, water molecules break apart. In solid form, water molecules bond together, forming a solid. But when they bond together, they’re actually farther apart from each other than they are in liquid form! This also explains why pipes burst when they freeze. They form a pyramid-like structure that spreads water molecules out, and that bursts the pipe.
Why your fingers and toes wrinkle in the tub, but the rest of your skin doesn’t
After you’ve soaked in the tub for a while, your fingers and toes get wrinkly, but the rest of your skin remains smooth. The reason? The epidermis – outermost layer of skin – is thickest on the bottom of your feet and hands. As you soak, the epidermis absorbs water, which causes it to expand. The skin underneath is already wet, so it doesn’t absorb much, if any water, so it doesn’t expand with the epidermis. To compensate for its expanded surface area, the epidermis wrinkles. The epidermis on other parts of your body is simply too thin to get that wrinkling effect.
You also absorb any chemicals that happen to be present in that water into your skin, especially chlorine. This is why at a minimum, you should install a shower filter on your shower. Even better is whole home filtration, because that keeps the chemicals out of your home’s water supply.
Water should be a gas at room temperature
Water molecules are sticky, they stick to everything, including themselves. Other molecules that are similar to water, such as hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, are gasses. But water’s unique stickiness holds water molecules together enough for water to remain a liquid at room temperature. Water’s stickiness can cause problems: It can make it hard to do your laundry, and it can make it hard for your body to absorb.
The stickiness of water molecules is affected by substances dissolved in it. Some substances such as the mineral bicarbonates in tap water, make water act stickier. That’s why you have to use more soap when doing laundry with hard water. Water ionizers convert those hard-to-absorb mineral carbonates into mineral hydroxides. Those mineral hydroxides actually reduce water’s stickiness, which makes it easier to absorb. That’s why alkaline water hydrates you better and faster than plain water.
Ionized alkaline water is found naturally from only 7 springs on Earth
Most of the water on Earth, including tap water and bottled waters, is potentially oxidative. Oxidation causes metal to rust, and damages tissues and DNA in your body. There are just seven antioxidant alkaline water springs on Earth. All of them are legendary for their water’s ability to restore health and fight aging. Nordenau in Germany, Zam Zam in Saudi Arabia, and Hita Tenryosui in Japan are three of those legendary springs. To this day, people spend huge amounts of money to seek out the waters of these rare antioxidant springs.
It’s easy to see why: Antioxidants help the body fight off damage from free radicals and Reactive Oxygen Species. That damage is a significant factor in premature aging and the development of degenerative diseases. Antioxidant water is a really big deal if you think about it: Your body is about 70% water, how much better could your health be if all of the water you drank was antioxidant water? The only source of antioxidant water, outside of the seven known rare, antioxidant springs on Earth is a water ionizer.
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