Title: H2O water a biography

Author: Ball Philip

Publisher: Bur

The unique chemical formula is H2O, which everyone knows, that of water: the most common substance on Earth, a necessary condition, the source and matrix of life. In ancient myths of creation in the beginning was the water and its mythical and symbolic value is very much alive in all cultures. In this 'biography', drawn with scientific precision and lightness of touch, the water, but stripped of all symbolic association with the soul, purity, life, youth, fertility and motherhood, and reduced chemical element geological phenomenon, continues to pursue its appeal. The formation of atoms of hydrogen and oxygen to the early Universe to the presence of water in comets or planets and satellites in the Solar System, the primordial flood of 4 billion years ago which gave rise to the ocean geological risks imposed on near future, different types of ice (at least 14) the riddle of water 'abnormal', the world explored reserves H2O surprises and mysteries to unravel, in a journey that touches on the history of science, mythology and religion , astronomy, geology, chemistry and physics, cell biology and ecology, to offer us, through the study of water, a new perspective on life and its foundations.