SEATWORK 1

1. What is water? How would you best describe what water is in chemical terms?
Water is a colourless and odourless substance found all over the earth. It is made up of billions
of molecules each one made of one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms held together by strong
covalent bond. It is a universal solvent, highly reactive and has a very stable polar molecules.

2. Explain the physical phases of water.

Water as Solid- When water is in its solid state (ice), the water molecules are packed close
together preventing it from changing shape. Ice has a very regular pattern with the molecules
rigidly apart from one another connected by the hydrogen bonds that form a crystalline lattice.
These crystals have a number of open regions and pockets making ice less dense than liquid
water. This is why ice floats on water. Ice forms when the temperature is below freezing
(0°Celsius or 32°Fahrenheit).
Water as Liquid- When ice is warmed above freezing, it melts and becomes liquid water. As a
liquid, the attractive forces between molecules weaken and individual molecules can begin to
move around each other. Because the molecules can slip and slide around one another, water
takes the shape of any container it is in. Despite the “hardness” of ice, the spacing of water
molecules per unit volume is actually greater than it is for liquid water. Hence, ice is less dense
than liquid water (which is why ice cubes float).
Water as Gas- The third state of water is the gaseous state (water vapor). In this state, water
molecules move very rapidly and are not bound together. Although we cannot see water in its
gaseous state, we can feel it in the air on a hot, humid day. Commonly, water boils at a
temperature of 100°C or 212°F, forming water vapor. Many people believe that the visible
plume of steam from a boiling kettle is water vapor. However, the steam that you see consists of
very small water droplets suspended in the air, while water vapor is the invisible gas that results
when water evaporates. We can “see” water vapor through the electromagnetic eyes of
infrared-sensing instruments.
Water cycles endlessly throughout the atmosphere, oceans, land, and life of planet earth, taking
each physical state at one time or another.

3. Water is a polar molecule. What does that mean?

A water molecule, because of its shape, is a polar molecule. That is, it has one side that is
positively charged and one side that is negatively charged. The molecule is made up of two
hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. The bonds between the atoms are called covalent
bonds, because the atoms share electrons.

OBSERVATION:

All materials have their own specific density, which can sometimes be
used to identify the material and predict its properties. Water is a
common, everyday material that can be used to demonstrate many useful
and interesting lessons about density. Hot water is less dense than cold
water, there is a density difference between hot and cold water. Hot water is less dense so it floats
on the denser cold water.
The red dye which is mixed with the warm water floats above the blue dye which is mixed in cold water.
The reason why this happened is because the warm water is less dense.

Molecules of cold water move slower and a little closer together than the hot water. The more dense
cold water sinks in the room temperature water. Molecules of hot water moves faster and a little far
apart. The less dense hot water floats on the more dense room temperature water.