Water

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss one of the simplest and most remarkable of all molecules: water. Water is among the most abundant substances on Earth, covering more than two-thirds of the planet. Consisting of just three atoms, the water molecule is superficially simple in its structure but extraordinary in its properties. It is a rare example of a substance that can be found on Earth in gaseous, liquid and solid forms, and thanks to its unique chemical behaviour is the basis of all known life. Scientists are still discovering new things about it, such as the fact that there are at least fifteen different forms of ice.

→ Play on BBC Sounds website

Guests

• Hasok Chang 3 episodes
  University of Cambridge
• Andrea Sella 3 episodes
  University College London
• Patricia Hunt No other episodes
  Imperial College London

Reading list

• H2O: A Biography of Water
  Philip Ball (Phoenix, 2000) Google Books →
• Is Water H2O? Evidence, Realism and Pluralism
  Hasok Chang (Springer, 2012) Google Books →
• Polywater
  Felix Franks (MIT Press, 1983) Google Books →
• Water: A Matrix of Life
  Felix Franks (Royal Society of Chemistry, 2000) Google Books →

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Programme ID: b01rgm9g

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rgm9g

Auto-category: 540 (Chemistry and allied sciences)