IS THIS THEORY IN HOT WATER?

Apparently, there is much we do not understand about water, including how and when it freezes. One uncertainty is whether the so-called "Mpemba effect" really exists.

In the 1960s, a Tanzanian student named Erasto Mpemba is said to have noticed that very hot ice cream firmed up more quickly when placed into a freezer.* It is not clear whether the ice cream was vanilla, chocolate or fruit or nut flavored. Mr. Mpemba's name has become attached to an extrapolated phenomenon that hot water can freeze faster than cold water.

According to a recent article, the Mpemba effect is the focus of much research and debate.* A new study suggests that hydrogen bonds in water change, with weaker bonds breaking, as water is heated , causing molecules to form fragments that can realign to initiate freezing. Cold water requires weak hydrogen bonds to be first broken to enable molecule realignment and freezing to take place.

However, some throw cold water on the hot water theory. The article quotes some sources which question whether the Mpemba effect actually exists. It cites experiments with hot and cold water which allegedly resulted in no observation of the effect.

However, a chemist criticized these experiments because they did not observe the time of initiation of freezing. He allegedly acknowledged that because freezing of water is a complex process which is difficult to control, it is hard to verify. However, he is quoted as being convinced that hot water can freeze quicker than cold water.*

One thing of which I am sure--my ice cream cone melts more quickly when it is hot outside than when it is cold. The smudges over my face and the drips on my shirt prove this. I call it the "Kucera effect". Can we extrapolate that ice melts more quickly in hot weather than cold weather? More research may be needed.

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*Conover, "Fast-freezing Hot Water Spurs Debate",
Science News, February 4, 2017, p. 14

© Daniel J. Kucera 2017

THE VALUE OF WATER, PART 5--FAITH

An aspect of water generally not broadly discussed, but whose value may be great, is water's importance to faith.

By way of example, the Judeo-Christian scriptures contain numerous references to the role and value of water. Some references relate to dramatic events, others to important sacraments.

Many references to water are to its cleansing role. In the Old Testament of the Bible, perhaps the most dramatic cleansing was the Flood, when water literally is said to have cleansed the entire earth. More commonly, washing with water of the body and/or clothes was a required ritual is a theocratic environment when one was said to be "unclean" due to a transgression or when entering a place of worship.

Water wells and springs also became a meeting place. Young unmarried men, searching for romance, would gather around wells and springs to meet young unmarried women coming to gather water. Perhaps this could have been the first singles bar.

More seriously, there is conjecture that the Annunciation may have taken place when Mary, the mother of Jesus, actually was outside of her home drawing water from a well or spring.* In addition to a second century biography of Mary, a painting at the Yale Art Gallery suggests this conclusion. The painting, excavated by Yale archeologists in the 1920s or 1930s, apparently was a piece of wall art from a third century house used as a church.

For Christians, baptism--washing with water--is a sacrament performed by churches. The washing with water reminds one of the cleansing from sin accomplished by Jesus' sacrifice at the cross and resurrection. Baptism also is a recognition of entry into the larger community of Christian faith.

Just as we put faith in water for its life sustaining value, water qua water can be an element of faith itself.

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*See Peppard, "Birth Announcement",
Yale Alumni Magazine, May/June 2016
p.56

THE VALUE OF WATER, PART 4--SCULPTOR

Water is the great sculptor of Earth. It has many chisels available to the task--rain, snow, ice, vapor and flowing water in various environments. It uses all of these tools to erode the earth, to dissolve the earth, to move the earth, to deposit the earth, to lift the earth, and generally to carve the earth constantly into a myriad of features.

A well known example of water's sculpture in the United States is the Grand Canyon. It is carved by the Colorado River over endless time into a spectacle.

Another example are the moonscape Badlands in western South Dakota. Here, water has worked in several ways to build up and to tear down. Sediments were deposited when the area was under a shallow sea. Later, when the Black Hills uplifted, streams and rivers deposited more sediments from the Hills. Sediments became soft rock formations. However, when streams and rivers diverted away from the area, depositions faded in favor of erosion to now constantly carve away these formations.

The Great Lakes formed when global warming caused the glacial continental ice sheet to retreat, carving out the Lakes' basins. The same glacier also carved much of the features of such states as Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois, creating flat lands, hills, valleys and countless smaller lakes. Before the glacier, much of middle United States was under an extensive shallow sea, resulting in layers of limestone prevalent in the area today.

Water also floods from rivers, enriching some adjacent land , eroding other land and creating new land. However, not all of water's work is above ground. Consider caves and the interesting formations within them; and, of course, there are the sinkholes that pop up.

Even the absence of water can become a sculptor of earth. The lack of rainfall for several years in the 1930s created the Dust Bowl in the Great Plains, eroding topsoil and displacing farms and their residents.

We enjoy, and utilize, water's sculptures for recreation, commerce and sustenance--and even just to admire the scenery. So, what is the value of water as sculptor of Earth? What do you think?

THE VALUE OF WATER, PART 2--ORIGINS OF LIFE

The story of life is the story of water. As discussed in my recent postings, scientists have derived differing hypotheses as to the origin of water on Earth. They range from ice-bearing asteroids and meteors colliding with Earth to water-bearing cosmic dust particles binding together to form the Earth. However, there does not appear to be any cogent evidence to support these assertions. In point of fact, no one really knows how water was delivered to Earth.

Nevertheless, the fact is that there is water on Earth, in aquifers below the surface; in oceans, lakes, rivers, ponds and puddles on the surface; and in clouds above the surface. And, this water is in all its various forms and states.

So, what does this water mean for us? In the first instance, it appears that animal life on earth originated in water--in seas and oceans. How this happened, again, no one knows for sure. One hypothesis is that life came from rocks. Water, as a solvent, over time eroded certain minerals from rocks, resulting in chemical formation of amino acids from the mineral mix, which in turn resulted eventually in formation of living organisms.

Assertions of chemical evolution, however, were criticized in the book "The Mystery of Life's Origin" by Thaxton, Bradley and Olsen. "They showed that attempts to explain the origin of the first living cell from simpler nonliving chemicals had failed and that these theories had specifically failed to explain the origin of the information necessary to produce the first life." (Meyer, "Darwin's Doubt", 2013, p. 341) In other words, chemistry alone could not produce information in DNA leading to life.

The oldest period in Earth history is called pre-Cambrian, perhaps a little over 4 billion years ago. The first forms of life appeared in the pre-Cambrian period, according to fossil records. They appeared in water, in seas and oceans. They were one-celled organisms and sponges, simple soft tissue organisms having few cell types.

After the pre-Cambrian period, the following period was the Cambrian, which began about 540 million years ago. The fossil record reveals that beginning about 530 million years ago, the "Cambrian Explosion" occurred. Literally, this was an explosion of a multitude of many different and complex animal forms in the seas and oceans. They include trilobites, jelly-fish like creatures, worm like things, shrimp like critters and shell bearing animals. Indeed some of the examples looked like something out of a 1950's science fiction movie. These Cambrian sea animals had sophisticated body plans, including such features as compound eyes, legs, outer skeleton, mouth, digestive system, stomach, reproductive organs, skin, wings and anus. In other words, these sea animals were characterized by features that we can expect to see in all forms of contemporary animal life.

The Cambrian Explosion appeared suddenly. There is no fossil record of any evolution or transition from the simple pre-Cambrian organisms to the complex body plans evidenced in the Cambrian fossils. Darwin's basic theory is that animals have evolved through the process of random mutations and natural selection. In his book "Darwin's Doubt", Meyer reviews Darwin's theory as well all of the off-shoots from that theory that have followed. Meyer concludes that Darwin and Neo-Darwin theories of evolution cannot explain how the genetic information and the novel proteins and systems to regulate expression of that information necessary to build the complex Cambrian body plans could arise. He concludes that the only supportable explanation for the source of the necessary genetic information to build the new body plans is "intelligent design."

The Earth is exceptional. It is designed for life. An important component of the design for life is water. And water was the environment for the beginning of animal life and its explosive Cambrian expansion into countless different and complex body plans. Clearly, water has had value.

TENSION

News media tend to report frequent instances of tension in the world--whether tension between countries or political groups or in businesses, schools or even families. Such tension is not necessarily beneficial or good.

There is tension in water, too--a physical phenomenon called "surface tension." Because water molecules are more attractive to each other than to other molecules. water molecules are forced inward so as to contract water surfaces.

Surface tension enables me to carry my morning full cup of coffee from the kitchen to another room without disaster to flooring and furniture and causing serious spousal tension. Other examples of surface tension include beading of rain drops on leaves, slow drops of water from a leaky faucet that should have been repaired long ago, and the ability of insects literally to walk on a pond surface util grabbed by a frog or a fish.

Now, Yale engineers have discovered that surface tension of a liquid can strengthen a solid.* Ordinarily, substituting some liquid particles for particles of a solid can be expected to weaken the solid. However, researchers have discovered that, if the embedded liquid drops are sufficiently small, their surface tension creates a stiffness in the liquid that makes the solid more strong. Using silicone as a solid, the embedded liquid made it up to 30% stronger, it was reported.

Apparently, size does matter in the case of surface tension--the smaller the better.

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*McCray, "Engineers Use Liquid Drops To
Make Solids Stiffer", Yale News,
December 15, 2014.

WEIRD WATER

Most people are aware that water can have different states, such as a liquid or as ice. And most people are also aware that liquid water ordinarily freezes into ice at 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit).

Despite all the essential uses of water and extensive general knowledge of its properties, scientist still are researching and learning about more of its sometimes weird characteristics.

For example, it has been determined that "pure" water can remain in a liquid state well below the freezing point of 0 degrees Celsius. Scientists now have supercooled water to -46 degrees Celsius in the liquid state. According to a recent report, this is the lowest temperature recorded where water has remained a liquid.*

Some of water's odd properties, such as ability to absorb heat, change at low temperatures. Yet, supercooled liquid water looks like ordinary tap water, except it will freeze at supercooled temperatures when it touches a foreign surface, such as a dust particle. Some researchers have proposed that if water is cooled to -50 degrees Celsius, it may split into two liquid states.

Of course, while research into the unusual properties of water can be interesting, it does not help much those many parts of the world that suffer the unavailability of adequate supplies of clean fresh water essential for life.

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*See"Supercooled Water Hits Record Low",
Science News, July 12, 2014, p. 18

WHICH STORM IS NEXT?

Last week, I visited the Black Hills of South Dakota. It was a few days after the great Blizzard of 2013, which buried the area with up to 55 inches of heavy, wet snow. THe snow, of course, was water in the form of partial liquid and partial solid.

The blizzard had a huge impact on human activity throughout the Hills. Residents and tourists became homebound or snowbound. Due to the amount and weight of the snow, clearing went slowly. Thousands of cattle died in the storm, to ranchers economic dismay.

Of course, we have witnessed before the serious impacts water can have due to hurricanes, floods and the like. But what particularly was revealing to me was the blizzard's impact on the natural environment. Throughout the Hills, the countless tons of wet snow snapped tall pine trees, leaving long severed trunks with jagged tops pointing to the sky like arrows defending the earth. In addition, the snow burden bent aspen and birch, still dressed in autumnal golden leaves, as well as young pines, bent 180 degrees to the ground creating arches, never to spring erect again.

What a paradox, I mused! These trees all need water to grow and live, but water destroyed them.

I had just finished reading a book on the impacts on life in Central and Eastern Europe under the nazi and later communist eras.* Looking at the landscape, I saw history in those broken trees. During those over 60 totalitarian years, people--like the aspen, birch and young pines-- were bent to the ground in subjugation by their authoritarian regimes. And, many people, like the tall pines, were snapped in the entirety.

But, there is a big difference in the two situations. The bent and broken trees were caused by Nature creating benefits to thin the forests, create meadows and provide much needed water for new growth. Bent and broken people were caused by man's inhumanity to mankind.

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*"Border Crossings", by Charles Novacek, Ten21 Press (2012)

BEWARE OF WATER HOGS

Last week, the press reported that at least 6,000 dead pigs were fished out of the Huangpu River and tributaries. The river runs through the center of Shanghai and is the source of supply of the City's drinking water for some 23 million residents. According to some reports, officials there have expressed concerns that the pigs could become a cause of water contamination.

In the United States, I have heard of Asian carp jumping out of rivers. I also have heard of something called a pig in the poke. But I have never heard of pigs floating in rivers.

Over a ham on rye sandwich, I began to salivate how the United States might deal with 6,000 dead pigs bubbling in a river which provides drinking water for a major city. I could not find a provision in the Safe Drinking Water Act or EPA regulations for water hogs--such as so many pigs per liter (or is it litter) or so many pig parts per million. My guess is that by the time EPA could promulgate a standard, sausage would be be squeezing from faucets. On second thought, perhaps none of this should be a surprise. We are used to seeing a lot of pork coming out of Congress. Why not the same for rivers?

Maybe the whole story is simply some publicity fabrication by a movie studio for a new 1950s style science fiction movie, such as "Earth versus Floating Pigs--They Came From Inner Space."

Or maybe this is much dodo about nothing. According to one report, the Chinese government testing showed no known health concern for humans in the river water-- only a pathogen affecting pigs. So, the days when one would go to a river for fishing may now be replaced by days going to a river for bringing home the bacon.

Oink if you support water hogs!

WATER SCIENCE FICTION BECOMES SCIENCE FACT?

One of my favorite 1950s science fiction movies is "The Monolith Monsters" (1957). A meteor crashes to earth, scattering its rock fragments. When one of these pieces comes in contact with water, it absorbs silicon from the environment and begins to grow into huge rock columns or monoliths. Eventually, the monoliths fall, shatter and give rise to new ones, as water makes contact.

Unfortunately, if a person is near one of these rock fragments which has been watered, the fragment will suck all the silicon from the person's body, turning him or her into stone. When a young girl begins to petrify in this manner, intense scientific research is conducted leaving no stone unturned, which reveals the human silicon deficiency caused by the rocks. Doctors develop a saline solution containing silicon, inject it into the little girl, and save her from a stoney fate. The formula then is applied to save others, as they roll into town from the countryside. Thus, water bearing silicon saves lives.

Now, 55 years after this movie was released, there is a report of a study performed at Keele University, UK, which allegedly shows that drinking a silicon-rich mineral water removes aluminum from persons with Alzheimer's disease. The study group, comprised of Alzheimer's patients, drank such mineral water for 12 weeks. For the majority of the study group, there was no deterioration in cognitive abilities, and a some showed improvements. The study apparently concludes, as a preliminary matter, that long term drinking of silicon-rich water can reduce one's exposure to aluminum and lower aluminum in the body, which for those with Alzheimer's disease may have positive benefits for the cognitive functions.

So, silicon in water--has science fiction become science fact?

WILL USEPA REGULATE NITROSAMINES IN DRINKING WATER?

Apparently,USEPA is considering whether to regulate nitrosamines in drinking water provided by public water supplies. What is the world are nitrosamines?

Nitrosamines are a group of approximately 300 organic compounds, most of which have been found to be carcinogenic in a variety of experimental animals. They are found in certain foods, such as fried bacon, cured meets and beer, in tobacco products, in rubber products, in certain cosmetics; and in gastric juices of the human stomach. Mouth bacteria can turn nitrates found in certain vegetables into nitrites, which can form nitrosating agents. Foods containing amines can react with these agents to produce nitrosamines in the stomach.

In public water supplies, nitrosamines can be formed by disinfection of water using chloramines.

In the September, 2012 issue of Journal AWWA, J. Alan Roberson discusses USEPA's potential regulation of nitrosamines in drinking water ("Regulating Nitrosamines Now Will Be Controversial"), p. 10). He points out that controversy could arise because, under the Safe Drinking Water Act, USEPA must conclude that such regulation will result in a meaningful health risk reduction. For example, he points to research concluding that oral intake of nitrosamines from drinking water comprised only 0.2% compared with other outside sources and that generated in body fluids. Advanced treatment installed by a utility to comply with a standard for nitrosamines in drinking water, therefore, may not achieve any meaningful health risk reduction.

Moreover, the article points out, such advanced treatment may be like punching a pillow on one end, which then bulges out on the other end. Treatment for nitrosamines using chlorine or ozone could result in formation of more regulated disinfection byproducts requiring more control.

Logically, what all this seems to boil down to is the necessity for a thorough cost/benefit analysis of any potential regulation of nitrosamines in drinking water. Only in that way can unnecessary cost burdens ultimately imposed on users by higher rates can be avoided. Prudent water utilities will not only monitor this regulatory process, but also participate in it.

GETTING THE LEAD OUT

Lead in drinking water has been a regulatory target for some time. Water public utilities rarely, if ever, furnish treated water containing lead. Rather, typically, lead enters drinking water from sources within a customer's property--such as from use of lead based solder for connecting copper pipes, use of faucets made from brass, and use of lead service lines from the distribution main in the street to the premises.

Under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, U.S.EPA has been dealing with lead issues since at least 1986, reducing the permitted lead content in plumbing materials. In addition, there has been a focus in possible reduction, in some circumstances, of the aggressiveness of water supplied by a utility.

In 2011, Congress enacted the Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act, which imposes a new, more strict definition of "lead-free" plumbing. Under the Act, "lead-free" means that solder and flux must not contain more than 0.2% lead, and the wetted surface of drinking water pipes, pipe fittings, plumbing fittings and fixtures cannot exceed a weighted average of 0.25% lead.

The Act states that no person may use any pipe, pipe or plumbing fitting, fixture, solder or flux that is not so "lead-free" in the installation or repair of any public water system or any plumbing in a house or non-residential facility which provides water for human consumption. The Act provides a formula for calculating the weighted average lead content of wetted surfaces. Exemptions from the lead-free requirement are provided for non-consumption uses, such as toilets, bidets, urinals, shower valves, outdoor watering fixtures, etc.

The Act becomes effective January 4, 2014. However, U.S.EPA likely will soon propose regulations to implement the Act. A proposed rule may be published in October, 2012, with a final rule by the end of 2013. It is possible that, in addition to banning items that do not comply with the lead-free requirement, the regulations may establish other requirements, such as specific product identification and compliance procedures.

As the Act can affect not only water utilities but also homeowners, plumbing contractors, manufacturers, vendors and the like, it may be prudent for interested parties to be aware of both the Act and the implementation regulations.

WHO REMEMBERS THE WATER?

We are told that water is valuable: that water is essential for all life--human, animal and vegetation; that water is essential for public health; that water is essential for public safety and fire protection; that water is essential for cleanliness; and that water is essential for production of food, goods and services. But, who remembers the water that we use? Who remembers the water in our shower this morning or any of yesterdays' mornings? Who remembers the water that is flushed down our toilets? Who remembers the water that made our coffee and tea during any day? Who remembers the water we sprayed on the garden or splashed down the driveway when we washed our car? Who remembers our first glass of water or any glass of water, for that matter? Who remembers the water churning in our washing machine or in our dishwasher? Who remembers the water that cleaned our floor and then was washed down the drain? Who remembers the water that was used to make soup or to wash the vegetables that went into the soup? So, who remembers water? If water really is valuable, how come we do not remember using it, yet alone protecting it like our other valuables? Maybe we will not value water, and remember it, until it is disappears.

THE PARADOX OF WATER

While enjoying hours of delay at my O'Hare gate recently, I cracked open my book "Homesteading in the Badlands-1912." Attempting to fly somewhere these days and homesteading in the badlands of South Dakota seemed to have a great deal in common.

Water, of course, had and continues to have great involvement in the formation of the badlands. Originally the product of sea, river and stream deposits, then the carving and erosion by water and wind.

In 1912, the author of my book, Earnest Bormann, began homesteading at the age of 21 on a quarter section of land about 12 miles southwest of what is now Wall Drug, still the home of 5 cent coffee. Under the law at the time, a homesteader could acquire title to such a parcel if the person lived on the land and cultivated it.

The author's parcel comprised 80 acres of flat ground, which he cultivated with the help of his horse "Ike." The other 80 acres were badlands-peaks and gulches of moonscape that today help to make up the Badlands National Park. His house was an 8 foot by 12 foot tar paper shack.

Water in the badlands is an extremely scarce commodity. When found, generally it is alkali in nature and unfit to drink. The author found a good water spring in his 80 acre badlands in a deep crevice, one-half mile from his shack. He had to haul water containers up a steep peak by holding on to Ike's tail as the horse tried to scramble up the slippery slope. He then hauled the water on foot the one-half mile to his shack-in all sorts of weather.

Sometimes, water came to close, as in the form of three day blizzards in the winter. In fact, a late blizzard came in May that killed many cattle in the area, wiping out several local ranchers.

After homesteading for 18 months, the author acquired title to his 160 acres. He then rented his land and returned to his parents in eastern South Dakota. In 1948, he sold his homestead to an adjoining neighbor. With the money, he bought a 1949 Ford.

Water helped to make the badlands, helped to enable living there and helped to make that living difficult. For most in the United States today, drinking water is readily available by a twist of a faucet. But for millions in the world, water still is hauled on foot from great distances, and for everyone everywhere, water in the form of floods, snow and ice still can be difficult.

As I finished my book, my flight began boarding. On the last page, the author quoted a sign he saw in 1912: "Please do not ask any questions. If we knew anything we would not be here." Guess where I was going-the Badlands!

WHAT IS WATER?

At least since 1805, when Gay-Lussac and Humboldt discovered that water is comprised of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, people have been trying to figure out exactly what is water. What we commonly know is that water can be a liquid, a solid, a gaseous vapor and even a supercritical fluid having properties of both a gas and a liquid.

But the discovery beat goes on. Recently, researchers at MIT have been examining the transition of water between two liquid states. According to MIT's press release, the lead author of a paper on their findings, Yang Zhang, stated that water is "probably the most weird substance on Earth."

The study found that water can be "supercooled" so that it remains a liquid well below the normal freezing temperature. Or, it can be "superheated" to well above the normal boiling temperature without boiling. "Normalization"-freezing or boiling at the normal temperatures requires a nucleation point, such as a bubble or ripple, to start the expected freezing or boiling.

The research appears to suggest that it may be possible to lower the transition points of the various states of water so as to protect animal and plant life as well as certain types of buildings and roads.

So, what is water? It can be in the sky and come down as rain, snow and hail; it can be in the air as fog; it can be on the ground as oceans, lakes, rivers, ponds; it can be in the ground as aquifers. It is in us and all other life; it makes our food; heats our homes; runs our industry; and puts out our fires. What is water? A gift.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF WATER

Recently, I lumbered through an antique shop, in my most serious hunter-gathere mode, grazing for whatever might catch my eye and release my checkbook In one jumbled booth, I spied a vintage cast iron hand water pump--you know the kind that would tower over kitchen sinks in most rural houses many years ago. It had been painted many times over its many years, but was primarily red, peppered by rainbow chips peeking through.

The paint on the handle was worn where many hands had grabbed it. Excitedly, I grabbed the handle, too, and vigorously pulled and pushed it up and down. But, only air flowed from the spout. How silly! A pump sitting on a shelf in an antique store can produce no water.

One of my college philosophy professors enjoyed repeating that "philosophers bake no bread." In other words, they do not produce anything tangible except for thoughts. In a way the vintage hand pump on a shelf in an antique store is like a philosopher. It pumps no water. But, what stories it could tell if it could talk. Who grabbed its handle over its many years of use? Where was it used? Why is it now on a shelf in an antique store?

Of course, answers to such questions are unlikely, and so the pump's history remains mysterious. But then again, water, which it once pumped, remains mysterious as well. A recent study has found that in the top layer of a water surface, about a quarter of water molecules have one hydrogen atom which actual vibrates in the air. (Science News, July 2, 2011, page 13.) "Despite covering roughly 70 percent of Earth's surface and constituting about 60 percent of the human body, water still puzzles scientists. For example, according to water's structural properties, it shouldn't be liquid, but rather gas, at everyday temperature and pressures." (Id. at p.13).

Well, who knows--maybe when I grabbed that handle of the pump on the shelf, I may actually have been pumping water in some form! Oh yes, I did not purchase the pump after all that--but, I may be back.

WHERE DID WATER COME FROM?

Water truly is a mysterious and wonderful substance! As a liquid, it nevertheless can change form, ranging from ice to steam. It is essential for life and commercial activity. Yet, when it floods, it can destroy life and commercial activity.

Part of water's mystery is its origin on earth, an issue that has challenged science for years. More recently, it has been assumed water was delivered to earth as ice by comets or asteroids.

However, according to Science News (January 15, 2011, p.26), there are two new theories as to how water originated on earth.

One new theory is that, at the time when the inner planets of the solar system were forming, Jupiter and Saturn moved around. They entered into the inner solar system and then backed out, kicking some ice bodies from the outer solar system into orbits which enabled the ice bodies to reach earth.

According to the article, a second new theory is that water came into being on earth from the cosmic dust from which the earth was formed. The dust grains held onto water molecules so tightly that high temperatures had no adverse impact.

Of course, there always has been a third explanation: that God created water on earth.

The Science News article points out that theories as to formation of water on earth may be helpful and encouraging for discovery of water in other locations in the universe.

Perhaps just as important, or even more so, is understanding that fresh water on earth, regardless of source, is a limited resource, a resource that must be understood, protected and conserved. We cannot expect bodies from outer space to deliver any more water to earth.

THE ICEMAN GO-ETH

Water has several properties. One of these is ice-a liquid becomes a solid at a certain temperature. In the 21st century, most of us likely think of ice only as something to slip and fall on in winter and something to chill our beverages in summer.

However, ice became a significant necessity in the latter half of the 19th century and early part of the 20th century-as a "refrigerant." In Chicago, for example, several companies emerged to engage in the business of cutting blocks of lake ice, storing the ice under sawdust and straw in warehouses, and delivering ice to houses and businesses.

It appears that a common source for Chicago ice were lakes in northern Indiana, particularly in LaPorte county. Indeed, my parent's cottage property on one of such lakes was subject to an old easement along the lake shore for harvesting of ice by a packing company. Most likely, Indiana ice was shipped to Chicago by railroad.

Prior to the electric compressor refrigerator we use today, homes used blocks of ice in their "ice boxes"-a term still often used to refer to a modern refrigerator. Frequently, such old ice boxes are viewed as desirable antiques by collectors, and thereby retain a life in the 21st century.

By the 1950s, sales of block ice had diminished, along with the ice companies. I can recall two exceptions: milk delivery trucks still rumbled down neighborhood streets, cooled by large blocks of ice which dripped melting water wherever they stopped. And a vacation car trip necessitated a metal cooler in the trunk for beverages and sandwiches, chilled by a block of ice which took up half of the cooler and soaked the sandwiches with melted water. Ice would be purchased from gas station vending machines along the route, the machines emblazoned with "ICE" in huge red letters. If one visits today Cedar Pass Lodge in the South Dakota Badlands, one still will see a large ice vending machine. Though inoperable, it stands as a Mount Rushmore of the ice industry.

Yes, the ice man go-eth, but memories linger.