Answer to Question #295490 in General Chemistry for Yang

Question

1. Water is a good solvent

Relate this property to the role of water in plant nutrition:

Answer:

2. Water has a high specific heat.

Relate this property to changing climate and the capacity of bodies of water to

act as temperature buffer:

Answer:

3. The boiling point of water unusually high

Relate this property to questions on small water bodies drying up:

Answer:

4. Solid water is less dense, and in fact floats on liquid water.

Relate this property to the survival of aquatic organisms in temperate countries:

Answer:

Answer 1

1)

Water is a good solvent due to its polarity.

It is called universal solvent because it dissolves many substances. Whenever water goes, it takes along valuable chemical minerals and nutrition for plant nutrition.

2)

Due to water high specific heat capacity it does not heat or cool quickly and whenever there is a drastic climate change it act as a temperature buffer.

3)

The boiling point of water is high and happen at fixed temperature.

As water boils it evaporates, but evaporation takes place at any temperature.

It does not require the water to boil in small water bodies for evaporation to take place.

4)

In temperate latitudes, water lakes and ponds usually freezes in winter. Ice being less dense than water, floats on the water.

Since Ice is a bad conductor of heat, it insulates the water below against heat losses to the cold air above. Water at 4°C, being the most dense, remains at the bottom of lake while ice, being less dense than water, floats on the layers of water at different temperatures.