Water is the weirdest substance there is! Nothing has physical and chemical properties like it. It is totally bizarre even though it is one of the most common chemical compounds on Earth.
It is the only common material that exists as solid, liquid, and gas over the very narrow range of temperatures found on Earth. It is transparent to visible light – most things are not – so aquatic plants can get sunlight to photosynthesize. Water vapour is opaque to infrared light so it’s an important greenhouse gas that is manipulated by Gaia to keep our climate optimal for life.
It’s at its most dense at 4°C when it is still liquid so the solid phase – ice – floats: most solids sink in their
