How polarity makes water behave strangely
Polarity can be a bad thing when we’re talking about politics or family drama, but it’s essential to the workings of the chemical world.
That’s especially true for water, whose uneven distribution of positive and negative charges is quite literally the reason that life exists in Earth. It makes everything from our DNA to proteins stay soluble, it helps balance the salts and minerals that are essential to our most core functions, and it’s a sidekick to almost every biochemical reaction.
And it’s not just essential on the smallest scale! Insects use surface tension to walk across its surface, and fish survive frozen winters thanks to its density. It’s no coincidence that water is the key ingredient for life. And it’s polarity that made it so.
Enjoy this lesson by Christina Kleinberg by TEDEducation. Try to overlook the fact that she says “wooter” :)
Source: youtube.com
