SWS 2007 Lecture 3: Lecture 3
9 Mar 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Volume of water: 400 billion billion gallons 326 million mi^3. Earliest evidence of liquid water on earth= ~4. 3 bya. Western australia, 2001 zicron crystals, earth"s oldest terrestrial (cid:373)aterials. Oceans and pillow lavas basaltic extrusive rock (3. 5 bya) Setting the stage for the evolution for the evolution of life, water is an essential precursor to life. Water and life- the most abundant substance in living systems. Average person has about 50 quarts of body water. A loss of just 5 per(cid:272)e(cid:374)t of the (cid:271)ody"s total water will cause the surface of the skin to shrink, and may even cause hallucinations. A loss of more than 12-15 percent total body fluid would be fatal to the human body. Water is an ideal medium for life processes: controls heat, moderates temperature, excellent solvent: transports nutrients, life compounds, participates in biochemical reactions photosynthesis. Living organisms consist of assemblages of similar complex carbon compounds (organic) and require water to develop.
