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Polarity
Because of their asymmetry and the nature of their electron configurations, water molecules have an innate polarity despite having no net charge. The two hydrogen atoms carry a positive charge, while the oxygen atom holds a negative charge. Water's polarity allows it to dissolve other polar molecules, such as sugars and salts, in solution via hydrogen bonding. Hydrogen bonds form between one pole of a water molecule and an ion of the appropriate charge. Sodium chloride, or common table salt, dissolves in water because its sodium atoms are weakly attracted to water molecules' negative poles. Chloride ions form hydrogen bonds with the positive hydrogen atoms in water molecules. These hydrogen bonds form and break easily. Water makes these ions and other polar molecules available for life's essential chemical processes.
Surface Tension and Adhesion
Hydrogen bonding of water molecules to other water molecules makes it adhere to itself, creating surface tension. Plants rely on surface tension to move water throughout their systems via capillary action. Capillary action in plants' vascular systems overcomes gravity and allows water to rise through these narrow channels thanks to a combination of its surface tension and its adhesion to molecules lining the capillary. Although adhesive water may seem like an oxymoron, at a molecular level water clings to itself and other surfaces well because of those weak, but constantly shifting, hydrogen bonds.
Heat Capacity
Relative to other compounds, water requires a great deal of energy to heat. Scientists describe this property as a compound's heat capacity. Water's exceptional heat capacity buffers living organisms and their environments from temperature extremes. Aquatic life depends on water's high heat capacity to protect them from thermal shock; land animals carry their own supply of this thermal buffer within them in the form of blood, lymph and other bodily fluids.
Heat of Vaporization
Water has a high heat of vaporization; that is, a quantity of water requires a relatively large amount of energy to turn it into water vapor or steam. This property affects the speed at which the hydrologic cycle operates on this planet with abundant liquid water. Water releases the energy stored in it as heat when it condenses, driving weather patterns and forming major weather systems such as hurricanes and tropical storms.
Lattice Structure
Liquid water has no rigid structure, but as water freezes its molecules lock into a tetrahedral lattice. Hydrogen bonds influence the shape of crystalline water (ice), making it slightly less dense than liquid water; this is why ice floats. Floating ice keeps oceans and lakes from freezing solid and destroying the life they harbor; a layer of ice atop a body of water acts as a protective layer for aquatic life beneath its surface.