Water Properties Vocab
Why is water called a universal solvent?
Ice floats because it is less ______ than liquid water
Dense
Oceans warm up and cool down more slowly than land because of this property.
High Heat Capacity
What is the main cause of surface currents?
Wind
What is the main cause of deep water currents?
Density
Water forming droplets on a surface is an example of which property.
Cohesion
Water climbing slightly up the sides of a glass tube is caused by this property.
Adhesion
Explain how high heat capacity and surface currents work together to regulate climate.
Water stores heat and currents redistribute that heat globally.
Large circular current systems in the ocean are called ______.
Gyres
Salt & Temperature
This term describes a molecule with slightly positive and negative ends.
Polar / polarity
If ice were more dense than liquid water, lakes would freeze from the ______ up.
Bottom
What might happen if water had a low heat capacity?
In the northern hemisphere, which direcrection do surface currents gyres circulate?
Right/clockwise
Where would we find the coldest water?
Bottom of ocean
This property explains why water resists temperature change.
High heat capacity
Water dissolving minerals and carrying them away is an example of water causing this process.
Weathering
What would have a more mild climate: a city near the coast, or an inland city? Why?
City near the coast, High Heat Capacity
WHY do gyres rotate different directions in the northern and southern hemispheres?
Explain how temperature and salinity work together to control deep ocean current movement.
colder/saltier water is denser → sinks
Explain how cohesion leads to surface tension. Describe one real world example.
Molecules want to stick together. Bug, bubble, ect.
Why is it that can ice split rocks to the point of them braking apart? What is the process?
Water expands when it freezes. Water seeping into cracks and repeated freezing will slowly split rocks.
Can a location that is a higher lattitude have a highter temperature than a city at a lower latitude? Why?
Yes, currents
Can surface currents change climates on land? Why?
Yes, they transfer warm or cold water to new regions.
Why does the oceans surface have the highest salinity (most salt)?
Evaporation & Freezing