Water Properties Trivia Quiz

Answer: Adhesion

Cohesion is the attraction between particles of the same substance, which is the reason water is attracted to itself. Water droplets made of water molecules that stick together is a good example of the property of cohesion. Another example of cohesion is water sticking to a metal surface which has just been waxed.

Adhesion is the attraction of water to different surfaces. In simple term, adhesion means that water like to stick with other substances. Two examples of adhesions are: water droplets sticking to a window after a rainfall and dew drops hanging onto leaves.

Answer: Heat

Specific heat is the amount of heat needed to increase the temperature of 1 gram of substance by 1°C. Water has a higher specific heat than many other substances. It takes a lot of energy to heat up water. Water has to absorb 4.184 joules of heat (1 calorie) for 1 kilogram of water to increase by 1°C. This is one of two important properties that water has at moderate temperature.

The other property is its high heat of vaporization which is the amount of heat energy needed for changing a gram of liquid into gas.

Answer: Density decreases

When water is frozen to ice, the crystalline structure becomes less dense than when it is in the liquid form. The volume of water expands by about 9% when water freezes. Therefore, the density of solid water (ice) is lower than the density of water in liquid form. This is the reason ice floats on water. Densities of other liquids increase when the temperature decreases.

Answer: 4.0° C

The maximum density of pure water is 1 g/cc at 4.0° C. To be exact, it is 0.9998395 g/cc, rounded to 1 g/cc. When temperature increases or decreases from 4.0° C, the density is no longer at 1 g/cc.

Answer: Polarity

Water has the highest polarity among all the liquids. Water consists of partial positive charges on hydrogen and partial negative charges on oxygen. The high polarity of water and the ability to form hydrogen bonds make it an excellent solvent, that is the ability to dissolve many molecules.

Answer: More than 350 °C

At 374 °C, it becomes "subcritical water" or "pressurized hot water". Superheated water boilers operate at this temperature range, where the water must be kept liquid in these boilers. These boilers have to operate at high pressure to prevent the water from evaporating.

Answer: To prevent scaling

Feedwater to the boiler must not contain any dissolved solids. Demineralized water is produced by distillation, deionization and reverse osmosis. Minerals in water can cause the boiler tubes to be scaled which affects the heat of transfer and can cause the boiler tubes to fail by getting too hot.

Answer: No

The boiling point of water is 100°C at normal atmospheric pressure. At higher altitudes, when atmospheric pressure decreases, water boils at less than 100°C, as water molecules are more free to escape from the water surface.

At higher pressure, the boiling point is more than 100°C, as the water molecules cannot escape freely from the surface. This is why food cooks much faster in a pressure cooker.

Answer: No

Distilled water has fewer organic pollutants than demineralized water, also known as deionized water. Distilled water is produced when water is boiled into vapour. The vapour is condensed into liquid and stored in another container. This process purifies the water the impurities that do not boil in the original container.

Demineralized water does not remove uncharged molecules such as viruses or bacteria. Demineralized water is produced when mineral ions are removed through a chemical process using ion-exchange resins.

Answer: Electrolysis

The process of using electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen is known as electrolysis. The reaction takes place in a process unit known as an electrolyzer. The hydrogen produced can be used for renewable energy and nuclear power generation. Hydrogen is a carbon-free gas.