environment


Water –


“…and the earth was formed out of water and by water” 2 Peter 3,3


nothing would exist. Apart from the 70% of the earth’s surface that is covered by the oceans, water is available from rain, springs, wells, streams, rivers, ponds and lakes and is also in the atmosphere, where it condenses into clouds. The bodies of most living things, plant or animal, contain a large proportion of water.


W


Water is totally necessary for life. Human beings cannot survive for more than a few days without it and need about four or five pints a day. Remarkably, much of that water comes from our food and most people drink about two pints of water a day. Water is constantly used but never used up as it circulates throughout the world. The water we drink today may have refreshed our Stone Age ancestors. Yet it is remarkable that it is a liquid when, by rights, it should be a gas. It consists of hydrogen and oxygen, with a molecular weight of only 18, far lower than many substances that are gases at normal temperatures. When the temperatures fall, water again behaves in a manner unlike any other substance. The usual reaction of chemicals is to become denser when cold but, at temperatures lower than 4o


C,


water becomes lighter until it finally reaches the solid state (ice) at 0o


C and floats on top of its liquid state. It requires a


very large amount of heat to raise the temperature of water by one degree, which is why the rivers and seas remain cold on hot days. These unique characteristics mean that water creatures live in a stable environment instead of being either frozen or boiled alive. It is the vast concentration of surface water at precisely the right temperature that makes earth such a haven for life. Nearly 98% of the water on earth is


28


ater is mentioned at the very beginning of the Bible, in the very first verse of Genesis. It is the most important liquid in the world and without it


ocean, with 2% in the ice caps and only 0.6% available as fresh water.


If gravity were the only natural force, life would not exist as the water would drain into the ocean basins and remain there, leaving the land to become dry and lifeless. However, water is continuously evaporating from the oceans and areas of water, becoming water vapour suspended in the atmosphere. In turn, this vapour forms clouds, which accumulate more vapour until they can hold no more and the water returns to the land as rain or snow. It is one of nature’s most important processes.


The soil covering the Earth acts like a gigantic sponge with water trickling through it and going down to rock strata or soil layers capable of holding water. These are known as aquifers, with the water held in them being called groundwater. Eventually the aquifer becomes so full of water it can hold no more and the water is forced upward. Some becomes springs, some is drawn out from wells and some reaches the earth’s surface by capillary action and evaporates into the atmosphere. Plants draw up water from ground moistened in this way through their roots and the water then passes through the plant to its leaves and evaporates into the atmosphere from there by the process we call transpiration. This water vapour then becomes part of the water cycle again.


We are so used to just turning on a tap that we take water for granted, instead of thinking of it as the precious substance it really is. 


Susan Atkinson, Agricultural Christian Fellowship www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32