Why is water heavy?

[Strix]

Thank you Mr Strix

 

If water is made up of hydrogen, which is a gas...

and oxygen, which is a gas...

... why doesn't it weigh nothing at all?

 

[andyofborg]

Thank you Mr Strix

 

If water is made up of hydrogen, which is a gas...

and oxygen, which is a gas...

... why doesn't it weigh nothing at all?

 

 

hydrogen and oxygen may be gases under ordinary temperatures and pressures but they do have mass

[Eater Sundae]

Thank you Mr Strix

 

If water is made up of hydrogen, which is a gas...

and oxygen, which is a gas...

... why doesn't it weigh nothing at all?

 

 

Because all the little bits of oxygen and hydrogen are a lot closer together when they are water. So for a litre of water you have a lot more oxygen and hydrogen than you do in the case of a litre of hydrogen or oxygen gas, which is mostly space.

[Scozzie]

Water is only relatively heavy compared to the other group 6 element because it is held together by strong hrydrogen bonds, it takes alot of enery to overcome these bonds and thats why it is heavier and has a higher melting and boiling point

 

I stole that answer.

[andyofborg]

Water is only relatively heavy compared to the other group 6 element because it is held together by strong hrydrogen bonds, it takes alot of enery to overcome these bonds and thats why it is heavier and has a higher melting and boiling point

 

I stole that answer.

 

the hydrogen bonding does affect the melting and boiling points but has absolutely no effect on the weight.

[andyofborg]

Because all the little bits of oxygen and hydrogen are a lot closer together when they are water. So for a litre of water you have a lot more oxygen and hydrogen than you do in the case of a litre of hydrogen or oxygen gas, which is mostly space.

 

that's density not weight

[Guest sibon]

that's density not weight

 

And a better question would have been; "Why is water more dense than hydrogen and oxygen?"

 

The original question doesn't make a lot of sense.

 

It is all down to the number of particles per unit volume (density to andyofborg and me:))

 

1 mole (600 thousand million million million molecules) of oxygen, or hydrogen gas occupies roughly 24 litres at room temperature and pressure. The same number of particles of water under the same conditions only occupies 18ml.

 

Or, the particles of water are packed together much more tightly than the particles of the gases.

 

The individual components weigh the same in both.

[cgksheff]

1 litre of water at 4'C has, roughly, 110 x 600,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 of Hydrogen and 55 x 600,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms of Oxygen.

 

1 litre of Hydrogen at 0'C has, roughly, 0.09 x 600,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms of Hydrogen in it.

 

Not exact, but an indicator of why water could be 1,500 times heavier than the same volume of hydrogen gas.

[Rupert_Baehr]

Water is heavy partly because it is wet and partly because it is made of two kinds of gin, Oxygin and Hydrogin. Gin is also heavy (though there is a kind called Dry Gin, which is probably slightly lighter.)

 

Oxygin is pure gin and hydrogin is gin and water.

[Phanerothyme]

If you drink your whiskey with heavy water, you don't lose your balance when you get pished.