2 paragraphs on question in the description, one for each point

Question

1) A fish lives in a large lake in Freehold. Describe how the qualities of water that help this fish in survival in this lake throughout the seasons. You visit that lake on the hottest days of the year. You jump into the lake and walk out all wet and this cools you off. After you dry off your body remains cool. Describe how the molecular structure gives water this quality.

Answer 1

Water has a high specific heat. It takes 1 calorie to raise 1g of water 1 degree Celsius. This is higher than most other common substances. What this means is that it takes a relatively large amount of energy to increase the temperature of the water. 

 

On the flipside, it also means that water is relatively resistant to changes in temperature. This is why climates near the ocean are more mild than regions inland. Because the water resists changes in temperature, it allows the fish to maintain a more stable body temperature. 

 

What happens in winter? Water freezes. What happens when water freezes? It expands. Ice is less dense than liquid water and floats. When you think of a pond freezing, does the whole pond freeze? Not usually. The ice floats and acts as an insulator; the water at the bottom of the pond remains liquid. 

 

With regard to sweat, if it takes a lot of energy to raise the temperature of water, then when water evaporates, it dissipates a lot of energy with it.

 

What gives water its high specific heat is its ability to form hydrogen bonds. Water is a polar molecule, which means that the electrons are not dispersed equally across the molecule. Electrons prefer to "hang out" with oxygen so there is a slight negative charge at the oxygen end. That leaves a slight positive charge on the H atoms. The attraction between the oxygen of one molecule and the hydrogen atom of another holds water molecules together. While these bonds are relatively weak on their own, they are very strong when you consider a mole of water.