The States of Water Webquest
Explore physical science.
The States of Water unit.
Did you know that water covers 75% of Earth's surface? Scientists estimate that there are 326 million trillion gallons of water on Earth.
326,000,000,000,000,000,000
We read that number as 326 quintillion.
There is also water in the air. On an average day, there are approximately 3,000 cubic miles of water in the atmosphere. The amount of water in just one cubic mile is equal to the number 10 followed by twelve zeroes - 10,000,000,000,000!
Multiply that number by 3,000 and you get 30,000,000,000,000,000 (30 quadrillion)! That's about how much water is in the air. Thirsty yet?
What state am I in?
All of the water on Earth exists in one of 3 states, or forms.
Those states are solid, liquid, and gas.
Liquid
Liquid water gathers in oceans, rivers, lakes, ponds, puddles, sinks, and bath tubs.
Liquid water takes on the shape of whatever container it is put into, whether it's a stream or a drinking glass.
Solid
Water in its solid form is ice, frost, or snow. One form of precipitation, hail, also falls from the sky as a solid.
Gas
Water can also take the form of a gas.
In this state, it is called water vapor or steam.
