Comments on: Things I don’t understand, Part 8

By: jabba

jabba — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 03:21:01 +0000

Another fun fact is that this very property of water is thought to be the reason for the existence of life on Earth. If water froze like normal substances, the entire planet could freeze over relatively easily.

This idea is one of the cornerstones of the Anthropic Principle, which tried to explain that the universe and all its forces are optimized for human life. Interestingly enough, this principle is now used by would-be philosophers on both sides of the Creation debate.

Apologies for being dry. Drier still: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic_principle

By: John

John — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 20:19:26 +0000

I never got any dates in Chemistry class – but it was an all-boys school and I always liked the idea of taking a girl on a date, so I guess I’m not too bothered.
Years later, I got the chance to take a girl to 1742, and we ran around freaking out the locals with our crazy modern gadgets. We laughed and laughed…
If you’re going to take someone on a date, you can do worse than 1742.

By: Lynda

Lynda — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 19:24:05 +0000

I like John’s answer.

By: Janna

Janna — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 18:39:43 +0000

John: This makes me wish I had actually paid attention in Chemistry class… If only I’d known about the “down-and-dirty cuddling” back then, I might have gotten more dates.

By: John

John — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 13:19:50 +0000

Hi,

When water is busy being water, it’s got a really funky charge going, so all the little water molecules can do a lot of serious down-and-dirty cuddling and hugging while they boogie…

but when the water slows down to become ice, it crystallises, so the water molecules (in an attempt to adapt to a new, more sedentary life, based on chilling out on the sofa watching the tube and eating potato chips) develop a need for their own space…

which is why water molecules take up more room as ice.