The Water in Us
Water is important to all living things.
Some organisms carry 90% of their body weight in water. The human body is made up of 60% water. 70% of the brain is water while nearly 90% of the lungs ins made up of water. Lean muscle contains 75% water weight. Body fat is made up of 10% water and 22% for the bone.
The water percentages that make up the human body differs at various stages.
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Babies are made up of 78% water.
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At 1 year old, it drops to 65%.
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An adult male is made up of 60% water
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An adult female is made up of 55% water.
Fat tissue does not have as much water as thin tissue and a woman is made up of more fat than men. Fat men have less water in percentage than thin men. Therefore:
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Babies and kids are made up of more water than adults
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Women have less water than men
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Fat people have less water than thin people.
83% of our blood is made up of water which is used to aid in digestion and transporting waste and for regulating our body temperature. Humans hsould replace 2.4liters of water in the body daily by drinking and eating food.
The properties that make up water make it extremely important and basic to our existence. Did you know that our cells are full of water? Because water dissolves many substances our cells are able to use valuable minerals, nutrients and chemicals in our biological processes.
Water Science
Water is the only natural substance that is found in all three states - liquid, solid (ice) and gas (steam)- at the temperature that is normally found on earth.
The water on earth is constantly changing, moving or interacting. Water freezes at 32 degrees fahrenheit (F) and boils at 212 degrees (F). The freezing point and boiling point of water are the baseline used to measure temperature.
- 0 degrees is water's freezing point
- 100 degrees is water's boiling point
Water is an unusual resource. Why is that? Well, as a solid (ice) water is less dense than it is in liquid form. That would be the reason why ice floats.
Water has a high heat index. What does that mean? Water absorbs a lot of heat before it actually starts to get hot. For this reason, water is very important to many industries and is necessary for our car radiators (well, your parents') as a coolant.
Now to recap what we have learned, go to the Assessment page and complete the quiz for lesson 1.
