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Earth Science

Water is a polar molecule composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, essential for life as it acts as a universal solvent and regulates temperature. While 97% of Earth's water is saltwater, only about 3% is freshwater, with less than 2% readily accessible for human use. The natural water cycle continuously purifies and distributes this limited freshwater through processes like evaporation and precipitation.

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7 views1 page

Earth Science

Water is a polar molecule composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, essential for life as it acts as a universal solvent and regulates temperature. While 97% of Earth's water is saltwater, only about 3% is freshwater, with less than 2% readily accessible for human use. The natural water cycle continuously purifies and distributes this limited freshwater through processes like evaporation and precipitation.

Uploaded by

haroldespino14
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Water

Water is chemically composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom joined by
covalent bonds, making it a highly polar molecule. This polarity allows it to be a universal
solvent, essential for dissolving and transporting nutrients and waste within all living organisms.
Therefore, water is fundamental to life, regulating temperature, and driving the hydrological
cycle that shapes Earth's climate and sustains ecosystems.

SLIDE 4
Water is an essential inorganic compound that can be found as a transparent,
tasteless, and odorless substance in its three natural phases: liquid, solid (ice), or gas
(steam). Globally, the vast majority of this compound, specifically roughly 97% of all water, is
saltwater contained within the world's oceans. Due to this high salt concentration, the oceanic
mass is not readily available for human use, underscoring the scarcity of the remaining 3% of
freshwater for drinking and agriculture.
SLIDE 5
The Earth holds a surprising amount of freshwater, but most of it is inaccessible.
Approximately 68.7% is trapped in glaciers, ice caps, and snowfields, primarily located in
remote polar regions or high altitudes. Another 30.1% exists as groundwater, seeping into
underground soil and rock formations. This leaves less than 2% of the planet’s total freshwater
supply readily available in rivers, lakes, and the atmosphere, highlighting the scarcity of our
crucial water resources, which are largely either frozen or buried deep beneath the surface.”
SLIDE 6
Despite the vast amount of water covering the planet, very little of it is readily available for
human use; in fact, only about 0.5% of the Earth's total water constitutes easily accessible
freshwater. This extremely limited supply is vital and is maintained through a continuous
process: it is naturally purified and distributed across the globe via the inherent mechanisms of
the natural water cycle.
SLIDE 7
The water that continuously moves through the natural water cycle has several starting
points. It primarily comes from large bodies of salt water like oceans, as well as freshwater
sources such as lakes and rivers through processes like evaporation. Water vapor also enters
the atmosphere from the surfaces of plants in a process called transpiration. This collected
atmospheric moisture is then returned to the Earth's surface, effectively replenishing these
sources, primarily through various forms of precipitation, such as rain, snow, or hail.

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