Water is the most abundant compound on earth surface and in both plant and human tissues. Water covers over 65% of the earth surface, whereas body tissues are composed of over 70% water. Water is one of the most important compounds to plants and animals and all these owes to its unique physical and chemical properties, (Thelivingcosmos.com, 2014).
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Water is composed of oxygen and hydrogen, which are both linked by fairly strong hydrogen bonding, (Thelivingcosmos.com, 2014). The bonding between oxygen and hydrogen atoms in water is covalent in nature and since oxygen is more electro-negative than hydrogen, a partially charge is created since the atoms in the covalent bonds are much closer to oxygen (higher density of atoms) than hydrogen. Therefore, the oxygen atoms posses net negative charge while hydrogen atoms have net positive charge. These charges create an attraction between one water molecule and the other, where negative and positive attract. This constitutes a less strong bond called hydrogen bonding.
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Hydrogen bonding in water is what is responsible for keeping water below the bonds in liquid state during winter preventing the ponds from freezing up. This is particularly important since it helps to preserve aquatic life in such environment, unlike if such ponds freeze which would destroy all plants and animals in such water. The other importance of hydrogen bonds in water is that it is responsible for keeping the strands of DNA zipped together, (Wyzant.com, 2014).
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The other physical and chemical properties of water are it huge specific heat and ability to remain liquid over a large range of temperatures. The ability of water to remain liquid over large ranges of temperatures is importance since it helps to keep life of organisms, which live in regions of extreme temperatures. More importantly, the higher specific heat capacity of water helps to keep the temperatures of water on oceans stable over varying climate. Finally, water is a universal solvent, making it possible for a variety of substances to dissolve in it, this is important in solving ingested substances, which are of different chemical compositions, (Wyzant.com, 2014).
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