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- Orno WekI Tires, odnsday SepemDrI Theatre in the Orono Park Ifs an annuai event at the Orono Camp. It was a rather adlib affair Murray Kendrick, Brett Morris, Park when park staff and others ail about Goldilocks. Lots of Shane Morris and fron centre present an annual play for humour and laughs. Sarah Higgins. members of the YWCA Day Pictured above Tim Milis, WATER The Maverick Molecule 1Water is the most common substance on earth. Almost 7 1% of the earth is covcred with it. It cornes in the form of glaciers, oceans, fresb watcr lakes and strearns. Had Uic scicntists of old known what Uic world looked like, *ben they named it. thcy woul d havecalled it "Oceanus" or some such *"watcry" name, instcad cf earth. We ourselves arc miniature walking oceans, since water makes up 60% cf carbody weigbt. T'he sait content cf our blood is also similar to Uic sait content of Uic sea. Our skin, encloses our "inner, ocean" and prevents it from spiliing or cvaporating. This skin, is, howcvcr, permeabie, and ailows water te escape in Uic formn cf perspiration. Wc aise lose water through the water vapeur in our breath, each time we exhale. We aise eliminate water as waste that bas been used in metabolizing our food, te provide the energy w e nced te carry on eut daiiy activities. Tbis water loss must bc replaced on a regular basis or wc will die. Life, on cartb ceuld net exist wiUicat water. There are bacteria that can cxist and thrive witheut exygen (anaerebic) but none cf Uiem can exist without water. When 'compared te other moiecules water bas somne unique cbaracteristics Uiat have led te its being namcd the "maverick molecule". Ail compounds shrink in volume as their temperature drops. Water acts as a normal compound decreasing in volume as its tempcrature is reduced, down te, about 4 degrees centigrade (39 degrees F). At thîs temperature water begins te expand. Wben it becomes a solîd (ice) at 0 degrees C (32 degrees F) it bas gained about 9% in volume, (rernember hew frcezing temperatures wili cause water pipes te burst?), and is ligbter than water. For this reason ice floats on water. Tbis is a very fortunate circumstance fer life on carth. If watcr continucd te shrînk as it coeledfrom 39 degrees and then froze it wouid bc heavier than, watcr and wouid sink te the bottem cf lakes, streams and oceans. Soon Uic bulk cf our water wouid bc tied up as ice and life, as WC know it, weuld cease te exist on ear-th.. The chemistry cf water is simple. It consists cf twe atoms cf hydrogen and one atom cf oxygen, (H20). Witbout geing into chemical Uecry, Uic Uree atoms are held together by sharing electrons (covalent bond). This is a, very stable bond and is bard te break. In fact it is se bard to break Uiat up until about 200 years ago water was ccnsidered te be an ciement rather Uian a compound. Scientists cf Uic eighteenth century bad flot been able te break the watcr moiecule into its bydrogen and oxygen cemponents. t was net until, wbile studying eiectricity, was it found Uiat the twc compenents could be, separated, by ciectrolysis. 'In electrciysis an electriecarrent is passed Urougb Uic water. Oxygen ccllects at. the positive pole (anode) and bydrogen at the negat ive pole (cathode). Two parts cf bydrogen te one part oxygen by volume is prcdaced (H20). In trying te visualize a moiecule cf water think cf the oxygen moiecule as being about Uic size of a loonie, and the two bydrogen molecules as being somewbat smailer than dimes. The bydrogen molecules are attacbed te the oxygen moiecules at about the 10:00 and 2:00 o'clock positions. This, makes the molecule iopsided and the side with the two hydrogen molecules bas a net positive charge while Uic opposite side basa net negative, charge. Ihis makes Uic molecule a dipole. That is, like a magnet, with a positive pole at one end and a negative pole at Uic other. This fact makes water an almost universal solvent in that it will dissolve almost any inorganic substance. Many inorganic molecules are held together by wbat is known as electricai attraction. This attraction is a weak bond. For-exampie table sait is composed of a positive atom of Sodium (Na+) and negative one of Chiorine (CI to form the- compound NaCI. This molecule is heid together by the electrical attraction of the negative and positive charges of the components. Water, in simple terms, is able to dissolve sait because of its abiity to însert itself between thc two atorns of Uic sait molecule and with its dipole properties break the weak electrical bond holding the sait molecules together.- t binds the positive Na and negative CI atoms te its positive and negative poles. Ibe old saying that "you don't miss Uic water 'tii Uie wdll runs dry" is stili quite truc today. ýWe regularly hear of water shertages in the news. Howcver, the total amount of water on earth bas not changed over the past several million years. Fortunateiy, earth's gravity is strong enougb to preve 'nt our precious water supply from escaping into space. The problemns we bear of today are usuaily man made probiemns. Is Uic water where we want it and if it is, is it fit for human consumption? First, al-most ail of our manufacturing processes use water somewbere in prcducing their end produet. However, while water is par t of thc process it is seldom part of the end product. The water, usually polluted, that is left over'in this process, has for some time been dumped into the nearest lake or streamn or landfill site. The tbeory being that these areas are so vast that the undesirable, side produets will be diluted to the point where they will flot be a problemf. We now know the fallacy of this concept. There are well documented cases where ground water bas been polluted by the dumping of industrial waste into landfill sites or man made ponds (the Love Canal in N. Y. state for one). The Great Lakes now centaminated with numerous chemnicals harmnful to our health are also testimony to the fallacy of the theory that "dilution is the solution". Secondiy, the. disposai of our own wastes in thc form of-sewage causes numerous prcblems. In some sewage systems, the storm drains aiong with the sewers empty into the sewage treatment plant. During heavy rainstorms this sudden influx of water is more than Uic plant can handie and raw sewage may overflow into our lakes and streams. Note the number of times beaches are closed to swimming in Toronto each summer. The city of Victoria dumps its raw sewage inte Uic Strait cf Juan de Fuca,-Montreal dumnps its untreated sewage into the St. Lawrence R iver. These are. continuing examples o f the old "dilution is the solution" syndrome. Thirdly, we continue te try and seule large numbers of people into what are virtually desert conditions. Parts of California arc cases in point. Low rainfali ccupled with large concentrations of people lead to severe water shortages. People in these areas want a swimming pool, green watered lawns and a1l of the other water intensive trappings that go with what are considered to bc the right of the modern suburbanite. So much water bas been diverted to municipal use, from rivers that flow through these localities that they have for ail intents and purposes ceas ed to exist before'diey reach Uic ocean. Fourthly, we try to farmn in these same dry areas. The only way farming can bc carried out is by massive irrigation. Water is usaally drawn from deep wells to do this irrigating and a natural resource (the underground water) which has collected over, at least, thousands of years, is being depleted much faster than it can be replenished. Egcb year, wells have to be deepened in orderto reach the water table. One day this resource wîll be exhausted or become too deep to bc tapped for this purpose. Water is an esnial life producîng and life supporting resource, yet it is s0 plentiful that our civilization has used it with little thought as to what we are doing with it and to it. Let us hope that we are now entering an enligbtened area of water resource management and that we will find the will and resources to overcome the problems created by the abuses of the past. The future of generations to corne may very weil depend -on how we treat this "Maverick Molecule". Ž~1BB, PIME1L~ t I I -n= Cowboys *Clowns - Western 1 ,Midway - Booths-' The 1993 Finals + ýf" 2 are Sponsored By: 9~ The Kinsmen Clubs A 1 f Bowmanville& D. ED"--dThe Great Pine Ridge ,- For tickets Wrfite: Kisnien Club of Bowmanvile, i . ~ jPO. Box 5, Bowmanville, Ontario LIC 3K8 or Cali . ..o.. .. .. TICKET OUTLETS: BOWMANVILLE: Cathy's Gold & Boatworks II OSH AWA- Stereo Trend in K-Mart Plaza WHITBY: Mild Willy's in the Kendalwood Plaza - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -1 i TICKETS: Fri. 7:OOpm Sat. 2:00pm Sun. 2:00pm. Weekend Aduits @ $1250 _____ _____ ___ _ $3600___ Children @$8.50 _____ _____ $2400 _ Family of four @ $4000_____ ____ $120.00___ Name__________________ Phone #__________ Visa_________________ Exp. Datet Cheque Enclosed (_____ Signature_________________ I ----------------------------------------------- ----------------- '00