Water looks at chemistry and roundhouse kicks it into quarks. Water does it’s own thing and doesn’t care about the rules scientists have made for other liquids and such.
For starters, looking at simply it’s composition. Water should be a gas. To example, take a look at ye ol’ table of chemistry.
All atoms have a mass. The upper left corner has the lightest atoms and they get heavier to further down and right you go. Molecules are a combination of atoms. And the more massive the molecule gets, the higher its boiling and melting point, aka more likely it’ll be a liquid or solid at room temperature.
As you can see, with 2 Hydrogen and one oxygen atom, water (H2O) is a fairly light molecule (18 g/mol). Two similar molecules are Ammonia (NH3, 17 g/mol) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S 34g/mol ).
But here’s the thing. NH3 and H2S are both gasses! Yet one is lighter and the other heavier than water. By this logic, water should be a gas to at room temperature. Which it clearly isn’t!
Speaking of melting points. Everybody knows ice floats in water right? Did you know that water is the only molecule which can float on its liquid form? It is! Butter does not float on itself, candles don’t float on liquid wax. But again, water doesn’t give a shit! And why does ice float? Because unlike LITERALLY EVERY LIQUID ON EARTH, water EXPANDS when it does from liquid to solid. And you’ll learn this first hand if you put a full bottle of water in the freezer overnight. That bottle will explode because the water expands upon freezing. Icebergs shouldn’t be possible!
Not only that, but water is deadly! Water in its purest form, will kill you if you drink it. The reason water is actually so healthy is that it’s full of minerals and salts we need to live. But pure water has none of this. And if you ingest it, it will leech these from you as you have more of it then this pure water and can even fill your cells with water (that’s osmosis baby) which will kill them, especially your brain cells. The most found liquid on the planet, in it’s purest form is deadly to you.
Luckily for us, you can’t find water in it’s purest form in nature. Because water is the best solvent and corrosive material on earth. It can dissolve anything and have it be detectable even at low levels. (Yes, this includes oil but as I said, low levels). Anything it touches gets dissolved. Even if it’s only reeeeeally small amounts. So technically each time you take a shower or go for a swim, you’re slowly getting dissolved! No other solvent or corrosive molecule is so versatile!
Water is densest at 4 degrees celcius (39 fahrenheit) and not near freezing temperature. (Which is why lakes don’t freeze solid). It has INSANE surface tension, more so then most liquids. (hence why we even have an insect called a water strider). It freezes FASTER when warm then cold (No seriously, try this. Freeze a cup of warm water and one with cold and watch the warm water freeze faster).
In short, water as a liquid does not adhere to any rules but it’s own and that smug bastard knows it.
