Water Facts
Water is way cool! It can be a solid, liquid, or gas and it's everywhere!
Water weighs quite a bit too. That makes it a pain to keep enough with you in the wilderness.
Weight of Water
| Pounds | Kilograms | |
| Cubic cm. | 0.0022 | 0.0010 |
| Liter | 2.2047 | 1.0000 |
| Cubic inch | 0.0361 | 0.0164 |
| Gallon | 8.3454 | 3.7854 |
| Cubic foot | 62.4280 | 28.3169 |
You can see that the weight of a gallon of water is over 8 pounds. Now, that can make a pack awful heavy awful fast!
The molecular weight of water is the combined weight of its two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom which amounts to 18.015 atomic mass units.
The unit weight of water or specific weight of water is the same as the weight of one gallon of water. Of course, you could use any unit size, but it will still weigh the same.
Anyway, here's some interesting tidbits about water so you can amaze your friends at the water bar...
- Water makes up about 70% of an adult's body weight
- 80% of a newborn baby's weight is from water
- When someone feels thirsty, he has probaly already lost more than 1% of his bodily water amount
- The majority of fresh water is stored underground in aquifers rather than on the surface in lakes and rivers
- About 70% of the world's surface is covered by water
- Water intoxication occurs when too much water is drunk too fast and reduces the blood's sodium level
- 8 cups per day is the recommended water consumption rate
- Soda, tea, and coffee that contain caffeine may prevent the water they contain from being used by your body because caffeine is a diuretic.
- Healthy people can drink about 3 gallons of water each day
- Water dissolves more substances than any other liquid. Water almost always has other particles dissolved in it
- Pure water is completely neutral, neither acidic nor basic, with a pH of 7
- The earth's ecosystem is a closed system so the water we have now has been here millions of years in some form
- There are about 325 million cubic miles of water in the earth's ecosystem.
- Only about 1/4 of 1 percent of all the water on earth is usable fresh water
- The USA uses about 400 billion gallons of water daily
- The average citizen in the USA uses about 100 gallons of water daily.
- Almost 80% of the water consumed in the USA is for irrigation and power generation
- About 15% of the USA population get their water from private wells - the rest use public water supplies
- Water helps increase metabolism and regulate appetite
- Drinking water keeps your energy level up. Fatigue during the day is often mild dehydration
- Drinking water helps clean out your system and reduce the risk of some diseases and cancers
- Back pain and pains in joints can be reduced by drinking more water
- Headaches can be prevented by drinking water
- Drinking water helps prevent constipation
- Drinking water moisturizes skin
So, keep in mind the weight of water when figuring out your outdoors activities. You have to have it, so plan ahead to ensure you have an available supply along your trek.
