The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-01-27
ARTICLE ~.

ARTICLE ~.
Aboutsthree-fourths of the land sur
face of the earth is covered with wa
ter; besides this, it exists over the
earth in clouds, and through the earth
as rivers, in the earth adhering to
soil particles and under the earth ~
THE Water Table" From fifty to
ninety per cent of the weight OF living
plants Is water. Such plant tissues
as wood are fifty per cent water:
fruits, like peaches and apples. are
water; while some water plants have
only two per cent solid material in
their entire bodies. 1t may be inter
esting to note that about sixty-six per
cent of the human body by weight is
water, varying all the way from two
per cent in the enamel of the teeth, to
seventy-five in the blood and ninety
nine and G little more in the saliva:
and what is true of the human body
Is practically true of all animal bodies
in the same classification. Water is so
abundant that we are apt to overlook
its importance in the lives of both ami
mails and plants. 1t is unlike any 9TH
er liquid known, in that. it Is at the
same time colorless, tasteless and
fluid especially adapted to the uses of
both animals and plants.
Every one has noticed how Oil will
rise in lamp wick to feed the flame
The force that makes it rise thus in
the threads of the wick is called capil-
larity. If sNch a wick be placed in wa
ter instead of oil. while it will not
burn, the water will climb higher than
oil or any other known liquid. If water
had no greater capillarity than oil. our
trees could not grow so tall, for this is
one of the forces that causes water to
rise in the tissues of the trees to the
leaves where it escapes. II water had
no greater capillarity than oil. it
couldn't spread to such great dis
lance in the soil. nor rise from the
lower subsoils to supply the roots of
plants. No other liquid possesses this
property equal to that of water.
If one will take the trouble to con-
suit a table of densities in any work
on physics, he will find that water
does not behave like any other liquid
when it freezes. Any other liquid gets
denser and therefore heavier as it gets
colder, but water does not. When it's
temperature is lowered toward the
freezing point, it does get denser and
heavier until it reaches go Fair. or
the point of its greatest density, and
therefore its greatest weight. II one
calls this point 1000, then when the
temperature runs down to freezing
point the density is only 1928 and,
therefore ice is lighter than the wa
ter upon which it rests, although it
| is colder.
Now oil does not behave that way,
nor does any other liquid. When oil
gets colder and approaches the freez'
ing point, the cold oil on the top set.
ties to the bottom and when it freezes,
it does % from the bottom up. So al
cohol in freezing, freezes from the bot,
tom up; but water freezes from the
top down.
Now it is easy to see how plant and
animal life are thus benefited by this
astonishing behavior of water. If ii
| acted hike any other liquid, our lakes
| would freeze from the bottom up, and
in severe winters would become solid
ice from bottom to top and during the
summer would never thaw out.
! Now il we again consult a text boob
on physics and look up the tables Of
specific heat, We will find that water
is taken as the unit of comparison
and Prof. Lamar tells me that it IL
because it requires more heat tc
change it's temperature than any 9th
er known substance liquid or solid
That is, for example, if one applies the
source of heat equally to pound OF
water and a pound of iron, the iron
will show rise of temperature first
In other words, the water will take uE
as much heat as the iron but will no,
get so hot. On the other hand, If the
temperature of a pound of water b<
raised to 100 and the temperature Of
a pound Of iron be raised to the same
degree. in cooling the iron will show
a loss of a degree much more quickly
than the water.
Every one knows some of the facts
resulting from this remarkable charac
ter1stic of water. There are some
countries in the world whose mild eli
mates depend entirely ON this power
water has Of taking up great quaint
ties of heat and Of giving 1t up slow