Page 137 - The Creation Of The Universe

Harun Yahya (Adnan Oktar) 135

but that of water is among the highest known. At "normal" temperatures,
the only liquid whose latent heat when freezing is superior to that of wa-
ter is ammonia. In terms of its latent heat properties at vaporization on the
other hand, no other liquid can compare with water.
3) The "thermal capacity" of water, that is, the amount of heat necessary
to raise the temperature of water by one degree, is higher than the great
majority of other liquids.
4) The thermal conductivity of water, its ability to convey heat, is at least
four times higher than any other liquid.
5) The thermal conductivity of ice and snow on the other hand is low.
By now you are probably wondering what importance these seemingly
technical five physical properties could possibly have. As it turns out, the
significance of each and every one of them is enormous because life in
general and our own life in particular is possible in this world just because
these five properties are what they are.
Let's now take a look at them one by one.

The Effect of "Top-down" Freezing
Other liquids freeze from the bottom up; water freezes from the top
down. This is the first unusual property of water mentioned above and it
is crucial for the existence of water on the surface of the Earth. Were it not
for this property, that is, if ice didn't float, much of our planet's water would
be locked up in ice and life would be impossible in its seas, lakes, ponds,
and rivers.
Let's examine this in detail to see why. There are many places in the
world where the temperature falls below 0°C in winter, often considerably
below that. Such cold will of course affect the water in seas, lakes, etc.
These bodies of water grow colder and colder and parts of them begin to
freeze. If ice didn't behave the way it does (if it didn't float in other words)
this ice would sink to the bottom while the warmer bits of water would rise
to the surface and be exposed to the air. But the temperature of that air is
still below freezing so these will freeze too and sink to the bottom. This