Water is essential for life on Earth because it gives and sustains life in both animals and plants.

We see it pretty much everywhere, both in Nature, our everyday lives, in our bodies, and in industrial use. It’s possibly the most versatile element we have. Let’s take a look at some of the properties of water.

The properties of Water are pretty unique

Like most other substances, it has three states:

  • Solid, as ice or snow
  • Liquid, as water
  • Gas, as steam

All of these states are beautiful in their own way. A snowflake, an icicle in spring, a rainbow, summer clouds. As a gas or liquid, it can get into most places and as a solid, it t’s strong enough to drive trucks over.

It’s the only thing that takes up more space as a solid than as a liquid. It increases around 9 % when freezing. Ice also has 17 different states or geometric arrangements depending on temperature and pressure.

Water is useful to us in many other ways

  • Water cleans and cooks but can also cut stone, wood and metal, transport heat and cool things down and can be used in chemistry.
  • Steam is used to bend wood, in steam engines and turbines, as well as for cleaning and sterilisation.
  • We use a lot of ice related to food and drink, but also to reduce swelling and pain.
  • We also use water for recreation, hunting/gathering food and travel.

Water may seem like a peaceful and ‘soft’ element but it’s also destructive

It can cut into hard things like stone. We see evidence of it all over the Earth where rivers have created canyons and V-shaped valleys.

Water can also dissolve many things, immediately or over time.
A couple of everyday examples are salt, coffee, and paint.

If you want a larger scale, just look at all the places where land erosion or mudslides happen.

This seemingly friendly element can also take life in many ways, in addition to sustaining it.

A few examples are:

  • drowning (we weren’t meant to breathe water)
  •  hyponatremia (low salt levels due to drinking too much water)
  • avalanches, and accidents due to icy conditions, fog, or snowfall.

Or when a ship collides with an iceberg, Titanic anyone?

So water is truly a versatile element. This is probably why it’s also worshipped in most nature-based religions.

The painting of an iceberg at sea under a blue sky at the top of the post is a painting I finished recently. It was created in acrylics on an MDF board covered with a cotton sheet.

In addition to being created for a market that was themed around recycling, it and some of the text in this blog post were created for a book project I’m working on with 3 other women.

It will be up for sale on my website soon but you can already get prints here

What’s your relationship with water?

Do you love or hate it? Does it scare you or are you fine with being in it?

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