Quench your thirst with 7 interesting facts about water

How often do you think about water? Only when you are thirsty? When going fishing or swimming? Water is everywhere, even in the desert.

Find out seven interesting facts about water.

1. The human body is composed of 70 percent water.

While the human body can endure a month without food, it can only go a week without water. Likewise, all plants and animals need water to survive.

2. Only 3 percent of water is freshwater

Animals and plants, including humans, obtain most of their water from rivers, lakes and groundwater–the main sources of freshwater on Earth.

The majority of water is salt water (97 percent). Freshwater accounts for only 3 percent of total water and 2.5 percent of that is unavailable-68.6 percent of freshwater is locked in glaciers and icecaps (mainly Greenland and Antarctica) and 30.1 percent is groundwater. Only 1.3 percent of freshwater is surface water and other freshwater sources (such as atmospheric water).

3. If all the water on Earth was contained in a gallon jug, the freshwater available to us would be about one tablespoon.

Amazingly, drinkable freshwater only comprises 0.5 percent of all the water on Earth. Ninety-nine percent of Earth’s water is unusable to us.

4. Lake Baikal and Lake Superior account for 30 percent of freshwater.

Rivers and lakes only constitute a small portion of all the water in the world and one lake, Lake Baikal, contains 20 percent of the world’s freshwater. Located in southeast Siberia, Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world (over 5,000 feet) and the most voluminous freshwater lake.

Lake Superior contains 10 percent of the world’s freshwater. If Lake Superior was emptied across North and South America, it would cover both continents in one foot of water!

5. The same water molecules that were on Earth millions of years ago are still present today.

Earth is a closed system much like a terrarium. Earth doesn’t gain or lose water, except for the occasional incoming meteor (which contain water molecules). The water coming from your faucet may have eroded part of the Grand Canyon, been ingested by a woolly mammoth or came down as snow on Greenland.

On average, during a 100-year period a single water molecule (H20) will spend 98 years in the ocean, 20 months as ice, two weeks in lakes and rivers, and less than a week in the atmosphere.

6. Water is the only natural substance found on Earth in all three forms: liquid, solid and gas.

From water vapor to rivers to glaciers, water is everywhere. There is even groundwater in deserts.

What would the world be like without ice? No ice fishing, glaciers or ice cubes. What if ice didn’t float? There would be no polar ice cap. Since water expands when it freezes, it becomes less dense than liquid water and floats (unlike other liquids).

7. Water vapor comprises 0.001 percent of total water

Without water in the atmosphere, there wouldn’t be the formation of clouds or precipitation. Ninety percent of atmospheric water comes from evaporation of surface water and the other ten percent comes from transpiration by plants.

Water is an integral part of Earth: from the plants and animals it sustains to the land it erodes through water and ice. Earth would be a desolate place without water.

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Resources:

• Lake Superior Water Facts
• Bureau of Reclamation Water Facts