Why is water's ability to absorb heat important to aquatic organisms and to life on earth generally?

Answer 1

Water has a relatively high HEAT capacity!

For substances with low heat capacity, this means that anything that is heated will have drastic changes in temperature with respect to time of heating. Consider for instance if the organisms are in a fluid of metal or encased in a metal foil. In milliseconds the temperature will be so high that it will fry the organism itself right away.

In the other hand, in a fluid of water, it takes time to heat up, which gives time for the organism to also adapt and find mechanisms to release heat. In humans, we sweat or perspire. The release of water droplets into a hot atmosphere causes the evaporation of water.

But then again, evaporation has a cooling effect; and water has the great ability to waft away or take heat away more than most substances.

Among other things, water also is a great solvent and a medium to wash away toxic and waste products of organisms. Thus, it is very important to living things on earth.

Answer 2

Waters ablility to absorb heat is mainly due to its bent atomic structure (which contributes to its ablility to become less dense as it freezes) and its ability to hydrogen bond. The hydrogen bond allows the water to stay liquid at higher temperature than many other liquids, for example alcohol. This means it has a high heat capacity...or it takes alot of energy to break those hydrogen bonds, or raise the temperature of the water, and therefore the energy is 'absorbed'. This absorbed heat allows the water to provide a relatively temperature stable environment for single celled, and cold blooded organisms which must rely on their surrounding environment to sustain their temperature.

Answer 3

Water absorbs the energy from the sun and the ocean currents move that energy around the world.

Water absorbs the energy slower than the surrounding soil so the water feels colder to you during the day than the sand at the beach. Water releases the energy slower than soil so the water feels warmer than the beach sand at night.

This process allows the energy to be available longer than just the sunshine.

Answer 4

All I know is that water is the life source of every living thing.The ability it has to absorbe heat is what allows it to feed the organisms. It produces them. thus allowing the water plants to grow also

Answer 5

Water is slow to cool down after it has been heated and it is slow to heat after it has been considerably cooled. Therefore, it is unlikely for there to be extremes in temperature, making it easier for life to exist. Water is unlike most other compounds in that its freezing point is 0 degrees and it is most dense at 4 degrees. Therefore, the water at the bottom of any pound or river, etc. is always 4 degrees and liquid, making it possible for life to exist at the bottom.

Answer 6

Because Freya and Thomas were crossing a street and a bus full of small children crashed into a pole and one thing lead to another and the pole went through their genital areas, Doesn t that rock ?

Love Br**d*n