Essential Water
The largest amount of fresh water is found here
glaciers & ice caps
The action of water flowing downward through soil
percolating or percolate
A material that keeps water from flowing is said to be
impermeable
Known as the "Universal Solvent"
water
Water that is safe to drink but contains many disolved minerals
hard water
The source of about 96% of the world's fresh liquid water
groundwater
The upper surface of a groundwater reservoir
water table
The inflow of water to supply a groundwater reservoir.
recharge or recharging
Water that is safe to drink and cook with
potable water
A substance that dissolves other substances
solvent
Groundwater is accessible by making on of these
wells
The part of the soil that contains porous rock allowing water to percolate
zone of aeration
When the water table meets the ground's surface causing water to flow, often continuously, you will have one of these
a spring
solute
soft water
The process of water continually moving from the continents to the oceans, evaporating to the atmosphere, moving back to the continents as water vapor and clouds, and dropping back into the continents as rain and snow
water cycle
zone of saturation
aquifer
Carbonate deposits formed from heating or boiling hard water produce a rocklike substance known as
scales
The mixture of a solvent with a dissolved substance from this
solution
Plants absorb water from the soil, and they release some of this water back into the air through their leaves and stems by this process
transpiration
In order for water to percolate down into the ground, the rocks in the zone of aeration must have these two qualities
porosity & permeability
If you drill a well at a lower elevation into the aquifer, the water may have enough pressure to spurt up out of the well, thus creating on of these
artisan well
The three ways that hard water can be soften
heating or boiling water; tablets of borax, washing soda, or phosphate compounds; special filters called demineralizers or ion exchangers
Why is the water molecule good at dissolving and separating other substances?
Water molecules are shaped like boomerangs. The bend has a different electrical charge compared with the ends because of the kind of bonds holding the atoms together. This feature helps water molecules grab and hold lots of other atoms, molecules, and ions, including other water molecules, by electrical attraction.