Water is a strange and marvelous substance. It is an amazingly powerful solvent and scientists tell us that life on Earth is due to the existence of this simple molecule in wide abundance on this planet. We humans are made up of about 70% water and depend on water for our survival, but too much water can lead to various catastrophes, such as floods for example (see my previous post titled "Water" or today's news about the Red river flooding).
Is Global Warming real?
If so, we may see a dramatic change in the Earth's shorelines during our lifetimes, due to rising sea-levels, fueled by the melting of ice. This might also be explained as the release of many, many water molecules which were previously kept frozen in ice and "out of circulation" so to speak.
Futurists tell us that as the global population continues to grow, clean water will be in short supply at some point in the future. Water conservation efforts are under way all over the US and the days when a large, lush, dark green lawn was a highly desirable status symbol may soon be behind us (and I for one, will not complain about that).
As I take another sip of water from my glass, marveling at its clean taste, I wonder where the various water molecules in that glass of water may have been since they were created. As Lawrence Krauss describes in his book Atom:
"... It (an oxygen atom located in a water molecule) could have been in a drop of sweat dripping from Michael Jordan's nose as he leapt for a basketball in the final game of his career, or in a large wave that is about to strike land after traveling 4,000 miles through the Pacific Ocean."
It could just as easily have coursed through the veins of a famous person - or more likely, if you embrace the laws of probability - those of one of the many, many types of insects that roam this Earth.
Wherever the molecules of water may have been in the past, I hope all of us can aspire to maintain a supply of abundant, clean water for generations to come.
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