this post was submitted on 28 Apr 2025
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Little bits of it oscillate between hydronium and hydroxide so a little of both but not enough to make a difference.
That's why the meme works. It's not because water autoionizes; it's because water is amphoteric, meaning it can act as either a Brønsted-Lowry acid or BL base depending on what what it's reacting with. Put water with ammonia, and water acts as an acid. Put water with acetic acid, and it acts as a base
Source: I teach college chemistry
Water is so cool. I like how the hydrophobic effects drives protein folding
I once brought up in a family dinner how incredible and strange water is, and how we don't really think about it.
It appears naturally in all three phases, expands when frozen, has a high surface tension, has a high specific heat, and can behave as a mild base or acid. Oh, and all the living stuff has water in it.
Nobody really understood what I meant except my sister.
Do you know about ortho/para-H~2~O? It only gets weirder.
Neat, I will be saving this and reading it when I'm less busy... maybe I'll get back to you on it.
If it makes you feel any better, I totally get it.
I’ve thought many times how different the universe would be (would complex life on earth even work the same way???) if frozen water became more dense and sank like most frozen substances.
Kinda, but not really. Deuterium exists naturally in more or less the ratio as it has since the solar system first coalesced.
Also, deuterium is a component of heavy water, but the term "deuterium" actually referred to the specific isotope of hydrogen where the nucleus consists of one proton and one neutron, as opposed to a single proton (which is the more common isotope)