Here are some interesting facts about What Water Is . . . .

• Pure water is colorless. It often appears blue in ice or in a clear lake or green or brown in a river because it contains or reflects other matter.
• Water is wet when it is a liquid but scientifically speaking, it is dry when ice or vapor.
• Water that has mineral salts is called "hard water". Rainwater is most often soft water. Well water or water from streams flowing over gypsum, limestone, or dolomite is more likely to be hard.
• Water is heavier than air.
• Ocean water is salty.
• There is much more water than land on the earth's surface.
• Water pours (or flows): it will run from a high place to lower place and seek the lowest possible level.
• A waterfall is water falling from one level to a lower level.
• Water takes three forms: a.)it is a liquid in lakes, oceans, or when it comes from faucets, b.)it is a solid when it is ice or snow, and c.)it is a gas when it is steam, clouds, air, fog, mist, or vapor.
• Water comes to the earth as rain or snow. Most of it goes back into the air. Fog or mist is a cloud on the ground.
• Ice is very strong. It holds you up when you skate on it if it is thick enough. Some Eskimos used to build temporary houses from blocks of snow and ice. If water gets into bottles, iron pipes, or cracks in rocks or pavements it can break them when it turns into ice because it expands when frozen.
• Cold water from our faucets comes from many sources: surface run-off stored in reservoirs behind dams, deep wells, springs, streams, and rainwater collected in concrete basins.
• Hot water from our faucets is the same water as the cold but it is heated and stored in a hot water tank in our homes before we use it.

Why is Water Unique?

Water: A Unique Substance

Glossary of Water Terminology

The Hydrologic Cycle

What is Water?

Properties of Water

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