BESC 320 – Water and Bioenvironmental Science
(Lecture 1; 20, 25 January 2016)
Course web page:
http://people.tamu.edu/~tdewitt/besc320/index.html
Philosophy and Learning Goals
 Nearly every fact you learn is boring. Synthesis is sublime
 Memorizing information is not learning in a meaningful sense
 Learning concepts (integration and organization of information) is
meaningful
 Learning to reflect, to twist facts and concepts into new syntheses that
solve stubborn problems… that is the goal
 This requires building a framework to accommodate interrelated
information—the larger the framework the more complete and useful it
will be
 Concept rotation / lateral thinking (you write a definition):
Goals for this course:
Learn disciplinary information from multiple relevant fields
Learn to think conceptually
Learn to think integratively (build conceptual framework with information
from different domains)
Learn to think creatively (come up with ideas no one else has thought)
Learn to think thoroughly (carry through logical scenarios to distant yet
probable ends)
Learn to think about connectedness of disciplines and entities (e.g.
interactions of physics, ecology, infrastructure, stakeholder values)
Learn to think globally/internationally
Learn to think quantitatively (e.g. understand research and modeling)
Practice group communication (practice preparing and giving oral
presentations; practice group work).
Read scientific literature (gain information & facility extracting information)
Practice participation in scholarly oral discourse
Spark and feed your sense of wonder about the world
NOT LEAST: Apply understanding and synthetic skills to solve problems in
water use and sustainability.
Source:
Inside Higher Ed
Structure of course—tour of syllabus
Invention example: Desalination of irrigated
croplands. Pickleweed sequesters salt in
specialized cells. Stem sections with too
much salt die, and the plant grows new
shoots. Why not grow this plant, bred to
crazy extremes, in salinized cropland, harvest
and remove the plants (and salt)?
For Friday: Locate, read and reflect on a water-related news story—email me
a synopsis with link.
“The primary goal is to reduce suffering, and to do that one must
understand the world.”
—The Buddha
Mankind has done a fair job of discerning the nature, workings, and history of
the physical world. Here’s what we have been able to piece together:
 14 bya the universe was formed
 4.5 bya our planet was formed
 contained key ingredients for emergence and maintenance of life
On the latter point, water, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides, and mineral ions in
liquid water started life. Water is the lynchpin. For in water, the chemistry of
life, no matter what form it was to take, was possible. Obviously it took the
form of what you see today… cellular, nucleic-acid based, self-replicating
organisms. Organisms, for purposes of this class, are self-contained water
vacuoles, conducting chemistry that powers self replication. Traits that make
us spiritually human in this view are epiphenomena—greed, love, passion,
etc.—and these traits also impact our interaction with water outside our selfcontained vacuolar selves.
Water Physical Sciences I (chemistry)
Overview
Water is dihydrogen monoxide, H2O. It has extremely unique properties that
make it vital for probably all life processes. The structure of water is as
follows. Note that oxygen has two electrons to share and hydrogen in its ionic
state (a proton, when dissolved in water) has a single electron deficit—thus
two H bond to one O:
The electron surplus for the O creates a
negative charge on its side of the
molecule, with positive charge on the 2H
side. Because of this shift in charge across
the molecule we call water a polar
molecule.
Water’s polarity allows it to interact with so many other molecules it is called
the “universal solvent”.
Water even interacts with itself:
Hydrogen bonds hold liquid water together.
Normal orientations
Polarity also allows water to interact with
an electric field.
Disrupted orientations
This is how the composition of water was
discovered by Lavoisier.
Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794) is considered to be the father of
modern chemistry. He discovered the composition of water by running
electric current through liquid water. The electric field breaks up liquid water’s
tight conformation (contrast last two figures) and liberates the component
gases. This process is known as hydrolysis (hydro: water; lysis: to cut).
Lavoisier quickly found there were two component gases, one lighter than air,
and one fundamentally like air. One of the gasses he found could be breathed
by animals to sustain life. He named that gas oxygen (oxy: acrid; gen: to
make) under the (flawed) idea that it is a component of acids. The other
(lighter) gas was flammable—but only in the presence of oxygen. He found
when the second gas was burned it makes water, so he called it hydrogen
(hydro: water: gen: to make).
So… electricity takes water apart, and fire puts water together. 
Water can dissolve (bring into solution as ions) most compounds or elements
you can think of…
 solids like iron and rock
 gases like oxygen and carbon dioxide
 and other liquids like sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide
Here is what water does to table salt: (consider stage performance)
Water therefore serves as a storage compartment, transfer medium, and
chemical mediator for a huge fraction of chemistry on our planet.
Think of all the nutrient cycles from BESC 201:
Carbon cycle
Nitrogen cycle
Phosphorus cycle
Taking the phosphorus cycle as an example, note that water participates in all
the terrestrial and organismal components of the cycle as well as the waterbodies parts. Any time you see a charge indicated on a molecule, it is an ion,
and is likely dissolved in water. In this cycle, phosphates (PO4-) are created by
disolution of minerals and from decay of organics. Any time you see an “ate”
in a chemical name—you know it dissolves in water.
We could do the same line of arguments for other cycles, like sulfur.
Which should remind you about acid rain:
2H2O + SO2 + SO4--  2H2S04
(try this with carbon dioxide)
Other Unique Properties of Water
 Clouds are white (increase albedo of planet)
 As for most substances, water becomes more dense as temperatures
drop. Except as temperature drops below 4 °C water grows less
dense and solidifies at 0 °C.
 Water has high molar heat capacity allowing it to adsorb and emit
relatively large amounts of heat without a change in temperature
 Water has large latent heats of evaporation and freezing as a result of
hydrogen bonds, with the result that phase changes of water are an
important heat-transport vehicle
 Strong cohesion & adhesion (surface tension & capillary action)
water (dyed) mercury
What are some important consequences you
can think of regarding water’s high cohesion
and adhesion?
More fun with the properties of water: cohesion,
adhesion, capillary action and surface tension:
http://science.jrank.org/pages/1182/Capillary-Action.html
(Note the video at the bottom begins slow but gets good)
The global water pool:
Folk and other water wisdom:
We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one.
—Jacques Cousteau
When the well's dry, we know the worth of water.
—Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac, 1746
Many estuaries produce more harvestable human food per acre than the best
midwestern farmland.
— Stanely A. Cain, 1967 (US HoR testimony)
The marsh, to him who enters it in a receptive mood, holds, besides mosquitoes and
stagnation, melody, the mystery of unknown waters, and the sweetness of Nature
undisturbed by man.
—Charles William Beebe, Log of the Sun, 1906
Aggies are self-replicating water vacuoles
—Dr. DeWitt
You’re a big ol’ wuss’, if you don’t jump in* —Brad Paisley
*Views expressed in this video not all expressly condoned by your Prof. But still, it’s pretty great.
Related to this course spiritually, Andy Mckee. I’m pretty sure the song is
about the history of life and the role of water in making it all flow.
(H2O)3 — chemical formula for ice cubes
—Dr. DeWitt