What is heat capacity? How does the heat capacity of water affect the marine environment?
Heat capacity is the amount of heat that must be added to raise the temperature of a substance by a given amount. It reflects how much heat the substance can store. Water has one of the highest heat capacities of any naturally occurring substance; in other words, it can absorb a lot of heat without greatly increasing in temperature. The high heat capacity of water keeps most marine organisms from having to deal with drastic changes in temperature. 7. Why is water called the universal solvent? Water is called the universal solvent because it is able to dissolve more things than any other natural substance. It is especially good at dissolving salts, which are made up of combinations of particles that have opposite electrical charges. 8. What are ions? Ions are electrically charged particles, which can be either single atoms or groups of atoms. Ordinary table salt (sodium chloride NaCl) consists of a positively charged sodium ion (Na+) and a negatively charged chloride ion (Cl-). When wat
