Water - The Stuff of Life

Earth is the only planet in our solar system that has water and it is the only planet known to have life on it. We need water to live: every living thing needs water to some extent. 70% of the human body is made up of water. Plants need water to grow. If we didn’t have water on earth, everything would die.

More than three-quarters of the surface of the earth are covered by water; from oceans to seas to rivers and lakes. Under the surface of the earth there is also flowing water. Humans and animals mainly get water from local lakes and streams. However, in some countries there is no access to fresh water so people have to take water from salty oceans and seas but first they must remove the salt from it. This is done through distillation and can be performed with basic equipment like glass tubes and sunlight. It is very important to distill the salt water as we cannot drink salty water.

In very hot countries where there is no water on the surface, trees have to dig down into the ground with their roots and use their roots to suck up the water they need.

Water can be in liquid, solid, or gas depending on whether it is frozen into ice or in the air. When there is a lot of water in the air, it is very foggy outside; when it is very cold outside, water freezes and becomes ice, which is the solid form.