• Question: How Is Water Made And If Its There Why Can't I Hold It

    Asked by issi2001 to Anil, Blanka, Cees, Emma, Mike on 26 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Blanka Sengerova

      Blanka Sengerova answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      Water is basically a molecule made up of two hydrogen and an oxygen atom held togather by covalent bonds in a hydrogen-oxygen-hydrogen configuration (H2O). Strictly speaking, what you can’t hold is liquid water or gaseous water, you can hold a block of ice, can’t you? You can hold a block of ice because these forces called hydrogen bonds make the water molecules stick together and effectively by holding one end of the block you’re holding the other end of it stuck to the water molecules you’re holding. At temperatures where water melts, the hydrogen bonds are broken, the water molecules no longer stick together and flow between your fingers. Simply speaking!

    • Photo: Emma Trantham

      Emma Trantham answered on 29 Jun 2012:

      Liquid water, and any other liquid is really difficult to hold because it just flows over your hands. And the reason it flows when solids (like ice) don’t is that the molecules in solids are pretty much stuck together, they can’t move. Molecules in liquids have a bit more energy (and as Blanka said, the bonds that hold the molecules together are weaker) and so can move past each other. This means that although you might have hold of some liquid water molecules in your hands the other molecules can just slip past them. This is also why liquids don’t have a particular shape but will take the shape of the container they are in.

      You definitely can’t hold gaseous water (when water has evaporated) because when something is a gas the molecules are very far apart and moving very quickly so they change places all of the time.

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