Water (H2O) is the most abundant compound on Earth's surface, covering about 70%.

In nature, it exists in liquid, solid, and gaseous states. It is in dynamic equilibrium between the liquid and gasstates at standard temperature and pressure. At room temperature, it is a tasteless and odorless liquid, nearly colorless with a hint of blue. Many substances dissolve in water and it is commonly referred to as the universal solvent. Because of this, water in nature and in use is rarely pure and some of its properties may vary slightly from those of the pure substance. However, there are also many compounds that are essentially, if not completely, insoluble in water. Water is the only common substance found naturally in all three common states of matter and it is essential for all life on Earth. Water usually makes up 55% to 78% of the human body.

The principle of hydrostatic equilibrium is that the pressure at any point in a fluid at rest (whence, hydrostatic) is just due to the weight of the overlying fluid. As pressure is just force per unit area, the pressure at the bottom of a fluid is just the weight of a column of the fluid, one unit of area in cross-section. This principle is simple to apply to incompressible fluids, such as most liquids (e.g., water). [Note that water and other common liquids are not strictly incompressible; but very high pressures are required to change their densities appreciably.] If the fluid is incompressible, so that the density is independent of the pressure, the weight of a column of liquid is just proportional to the height of the liquid above the level where the pressure is measured. In fact, the mass of a unit-area column of height h and density is just h; and the weight of the column is its mass times the acceleration of gravity, g. But the weight of the unit-area column is the force it exerts per unit area at its base i.e., the pressure. So P = g h.