The property of water to resist changes in temperature improves the climate in many places.
Water has a much higher capacity for storing energy than most common materials. A relatively small amount of water absorbs a great deal of heat for a correspondingly small temperature rise.
Because of this, water is a very useful cooling agent, and is used in cooling systems in automobiles and other engines. For a liquid of lower specific heat capacity, temperature would rise higher for a comparable absorption of heat. Water also takes longer to cool.
Water’s capacity to store heat affects the global climate. Water takes more energy to heat up than land does.
Water has a high specific heat and is transparent, so it takes more energy to heat up than land does.
In winter, the water warms the air that moves over it. In summer, the water cools the air that moves over it.
Land, with a lower specific heat capacity, gets hot in summer but cools rapidly in winter.
Most forms of matter-solids, liquids, and gases-expand when they are heated and contract when they are cooled.
When the temperature of a substance is increased, its molecules jiggle faster and normally tend to move farther apart. This results in an expansion of the substance.
Gases generally expand or contract much more than liquids.
Liquids generally expand or contract more than solids.
A thermostat is used to control temperature.
At 0°C, ice is less dense than water, and so ice floats on water.
Almost all liquids will expand when they are heated. Ice-cold water, however, does just the opposite!
When ice melts, some crystals remain in the ice-water mixture, making a microscopic slush that slightly “bloats” the water.
