By Bhadresh Bundela
Water can appear in three phases. Water takes many different forms on Earth: water vapor and clouds in the sky; seawater and rarely icebergs in the ocean; glaciers and rivers in the mountains; and aquifers in the ground.
Water can dissolve many different substances, giving it different tastes and odors. In fact, humans and other animals have developed senses to be able to evaluate the potability of water: animals generally dislike the taste of salty sea water and the putrid swamps and favor the purer water of a mountain spring or aquifer. Humans also tend to prefer cold water rather than lukewarm, as cold water is likely to contain fewer microbes. The taste advertised in spring water or mineral water derives from the minerals dissolved in it, as pure H2O is tasteless. As such, purity in spring and mineral water refers to purity from toxins, pollutants, and microbes.
Different names are given to water's various forms:
• according to phase
o solid - ice
o liquid - water
o gaseous - water vapor
• according to meteorology:
o hydrometeor
precipitation
precipitation according to moves precipitation according to phase
• vertical (falling) precipitation
o rain
o freezing rain
o drizzle
o freezing drizzle
o snow
o snow pellets
o snow grains
o ice pellets
o frozen rain
o hail
o ice crystals
• horizontal (seated) precipitation
o dew
o hoarfrost
o atmospheric icing
o glaze ice • liquid precipitation
o rain
o freezing rain
o drizzle
o freezing drizzle
o dew
• solid precipitation
o snow
o snow pellets
o snow grains
o ice pellets
o frozen rain
o hail
o ice crystals
o hoarfrost
o atmospheric icing
o glaze ice
• mixed precipitation
o in temperatures around 0 °C
•
o levitating particles
clouds
fog
BR (according to METAR)
o ascending particles (drifted by wind)
spindrift
stirred snow
• according to occurrence
o groundwater
o meltwater
o meteoric water
o connate water
o fresh water
o mineral water – contains much minerals
o brackish water
o dead water – strange phenomenon which can occur when a layer of fresh or brackish water rests on top of more dense salt water, without the two layers mixing. It is dangerous for ship traveling.
o seawater
o brine
• according to uses
o tap water
o bottled water
o drinking water or potable water – useful for everyday drinking, without fouling, it contains balanced minerals that are not harmful to health (see below)
o purified water, laboratory-grade, analytical-grade or reagent-grade water – water which has been highly purified for specific uses in science or engineering. Often broadly classified as Type I, Type II, or Type III, this category of water includes, but is not limited to the following:
distilled water
double distilled water
deionized water
• according to other features
o soft water – contains less minerals
o hard water – from underground, contains more minerals
o distilled water, double distilled water, deionized water - contains no minerals
o heavy water – made from heavy atoms of hydrogen - deuterium. It is in nature in normal water in very low concentration. It was used in construction of first nuclear reactors.
o tritiated water
• according to microbiology
o drinking water
o wastewater
o stormwater or surface water
