Interesting Water Facts You Should Know
Water is our most precious resource, supporting all life on Earth. In celebration of Drilcorp’s 25th Anniversary, we have compiled a list of 25 surprising and interesting facts about the miraculous chemical compound known as H20. For example, did you know one acre of broad-leafed forest has the ability to release up to 8,000 gallons of water into the atmosphere every day. Incredible!
- Water is the most important resource in the world
- 7% of the fresh water on Earth is trapped in glaciers
- Water can dissolve more substances than any other liquid including sulfuric acid
- The freezing point of water lowers as the amount of salt dissolved in at increases. With average levels of salt, seawater freezes at -2 °C (28.4 °F).
- To create one pint of beer it takes 20 gallons of water
- 80% of all illness in the developing world is water related
- Unsafe water kills 200 children every hour
- Collectively, South African women and children walk a daily distance equivalent to 16 trips to the moon and back to fetch water.
- A jellyfish and a cucumber are each 95% water
- 70% of the human brain is water
- A person can live about a month without food, but only about a week without water
- 300 tons of water are required to manufacture 1 ton of steel
- Hot water can freeze faster than cold water under some conditions (commonly known as the Mpemba effect)
- If the entire world’s water were fit into a 4 liter jug, the fresh water available for us would equal only about one tablespoon
- Over 90% of the world’s supply of fresh water is located in Antarctica
- Water regulates the Earth’s temperature
- In a 100-year period, a water molecule spends 98 years in the ocean, 20 months as ice, about 2 weeks in lakes and rivers, and less than a week in the atmosphere
- Water makes up about 66 percent of the human body
- Drinking too much water can be fatal (known as water intoxication).
- There is more fresh water in the atmosphere than in all of the rivers on the planet combined
- A leaky tap that drips at the rate of one drip per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons per year
- The first water pipes in the U.S. were made from hollowed logs.
- NASA has discovered water in the form of ice on the moon
- A bath uses up to 70 gallons of water; a five-minute shower uses 10 to 25 gallons
- Ocean tides are caused by the rotation of the Earth and the gravitational pull of the Moon and Sun acting on ocean water.