From surf to snowflakes, where would we be without water? The answer is … we wouldn’t! Water is like an essential friend we frequently take for granted. Being inside and around us in so many different ways means most of us are unaware of how WEIRD water can get.
For example: most solid elements and compounds sink if gently dropped into their liquid form. NOT WATER! We all know ice floats, but did you realise none of us would be here if water “behaved” and followed the same rules as the other compounds? H2O molecules act a bit like magnets, which leads to other weird things about water, like liquid water’s sticky skin-like property.
Check out the two PDF presentations below for some fascinating facts and entertaining poems.
- WEIRD WATER Part 1 shares poems and information about WATER AS A LIQUID
- WEIRD WATER Part 2 shares poems, information and a photo gallery of water as a SOLID, LIQUID & GAS
2017 is the International Year of Sustainable Tourism. As visitors to planet Earth, how we appreciate and care for limited resources such as water is important for our FUTURE EARTH (which is the school theme for this year’s National Science Week).
At Science Rhymes, we’d love to include your poem about the beauty, mystery and/or environmental significance of water on our website as we lead-up to National Science Week in Australia (12-20 August 2017). So put on your poetry hat over the next school break and take the plunge! Send your H2O poems to feedback@sciencerhymes.com.au.
Have you ever wondered why a kettle coming to the boil makes so much noise? Let Me Out was first published in CSIRO’s children’s science magazine Scientriffic #90.
Let Me Out! by Celia Berrell
When kettles boil, escaping bubbles
make them rattle, roar and wobble.
Why then, do they wheeze and hiss
before we see some steamy mist?The element in kettle’s base
is warming water in that place.
Tiny bubbles first appear
and start to float up in the air.But since the water higher up
is still quite cool, those bubbles flop.
They hiss and wheeze their fizzled fate
returning to their liquid state.Until the water near the top
of kettle’s body’s all warmed up
the water vapour can’t get out.
That hiss is like a whispered shout …LET ME OUT!
WATER VAPOUR & STEAM
We use the word vapour for a gas which easily changes into tiny liquid particles. A boiling kettle will have invisible water gas coming out of its spout. The steam we can see is hot liquid water droplets. Water molecules that become too energetic to stay inside the kettle as a liquid, escape as invisible water gas. But those gas molecules quickly turn back (condense) into tiny liquid water droplets as they touch a cooler surface or mix with cooler air. Steam we can see coming out of a kettle is similar to a cloud, mist or fog. It’s made from lots of tiny water droplets that float in the air.