Modern Marvels/Water

Water
Season 13, Episode 35
Airdate	September 6, 2006
Written by
Directed by
Produced by	Don Cambou
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Modern Marvels — Season Twelve

Water is the thirty-fifth episode of the thirteenth season of Modern Marvels.

Water is one of the most treasured natural resources on Earth. Despite its abundance, only a portion of all of the planet's water can be consumed by humans, leaving nearly a half a billion people without access to clean drinking water. Water's unique chemical makeup gives it incredible features that make life on Earth as it is.

Interviewees: Pamela Conrad (astrobiologist), Arthur Von Wiesenberger (bottled water expert), Frank Chapelle (hyrdologist, author), Dusty Dowdy, Siggi Thordarson, Kent Kise, Jim Kelly (nuclear operator), Jake LaRue (agricultural engineer), Wendell Dorsett (agricultural engineer), Ron Bopp (farmer), Derrel Martin, Michael Jess (water resources engineer), Mark Fuller, Luis Burgos (designer), Robert Anderson (research scientist at NASA), Albert Haldemann (Mars scientist)

Notes

• There are 4 billion gallons of water inside of Earth's 6 billion people. This is equivalent to the amount of water that flows over the Niagra falls in one hour.
• Water covers 70% of Earth's surface; this comes out to 326 million cubic miles. However, only 2.5% of this is fresh water.
• Most drinking water comes from springs. Ozone is used in the sterilization process.
• Ceramic pottery might have first been created as a method of storing water.
• The roman aqueducts transported millions of gallons of water every day.
• During the middle ages the poor quality of water made it unfashionable to drink. Those who could afford it drank a watered down type of beer.
• The American bottled water industry almost collapsed after the introduction of liquid chlorine that disinfected municipal water. Bottled water became popular in the U.S. again in the 1970s with the importation of popular European brands.
• Water is one of the few compounds that is denser in its liquid form. This is why ice floats.
• Water's incredible surface tension allows for it to rise above the rim of glasses when overflowed without spilling, carve out mountains, and hold the shapes of plants and animals.
• Almost anything, except oil, can dissolve in water.
• Heavy water is used in nuclear reactors.
• 40% of the water used in the United States is in agriculture.
• Center pivots are large irrigation devices used to water crops. This gives the crops a culture look when seen from the sky. They typically take 3 days to complete one rotation.
• The use of gravity irrigation dates back thousands of years to Mesopotamia.
• Many people are concerned that the use of water irrigation is draining the aquifers faster than they can be replenished.
• The major method of looking for life outside of Earth involves the search for water. Landers on planets such as Mars have tools which look for signs of water's existence in the planet's geological history.
• The Saturn satellite of Enceladus is believed by some to have water geysers near its southern pole. Because of the extreme cold of the satellite, it is not believed that liquid geysers are possible without further explanation.

Quotes

• America's top selling bottled waters are Pepsi's Aquafina and Coca-Cola's Dasani. Each is purfied water drawn not from springs, but municipal water supplies.
• The speed of sound in water is roughly 4,500 feet per second, five times faster than its speed in the air — helping enable whales to communicate over distances of hundreds of miles.
• During transpiration, the process in which plants release water to the atmosphere, an acre of corn gives off 4,000 gallons every day.
• At any given time, the fountains of Bellagio can propel up to 17,000 gallons of water into the air.