Unusual Properties of Water

Abstract

Water has been known for its unusual properties from antiquity when, e.g. was found that hot water freezes faster than cold water. Presently, on the web page 'water' Martin Chaplin [1] lists sixty seven properties of water which may be considered 'anomalous' when comparing to 'normal' chemical substances. Much of this can be attributed to the spatial structure of hydrogen bonding in condensed phases of water. Hydrogen bonding constitutes about 2/3 of cohesion energy of water. However, the remaining 1/3 is definitely not negligible. Combination of the two leads to properties of water in the systems where it plays a role. The very comprehensive range of such systems and common presence of water make the enormous variety of structures and properties of water-containing compounds. In the present paper the non-hydrophilic component of properties of water will be emphasized in combination with the structural aspects of supramolecular bonding of water molecules.