20 Freshwater Facts for Kids
- Freshwater is naturally occurring water found on the planet Earth.
- Freshwater is created by the Earth’s water cycle.
- Freshwater is defined as water with low concentrations of dissolved salts.
- Freshwater is found in rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, ice (sheets, caps and glaciers) and aquifers.
- Freshwater sources are home to thousands of different...
What are some facts about fresh water?
Some science facts about water:
- Water is a polar inorganic compound that is at room temperature a tasteless and odorless liquid, nearly colorless with a hint of blue.
- Density: 997 kg/m³
- Boiling point: 212°F (100°C)
- Molar mass: 18.01528 g/mol
- Melting point: 32°F (0°C)
- Formula: H2O
- IUPAC ID: Water, Oxidant
What are some interesting facts about the freshwater biome?
Interesting Freshwater Biome Facts: Only 3% of the water on Earth comes from freshwater biomes. There are over 700 different species of fish that live in a freshwater biome. 99% of all freshwater is either in the form of ice or located in an aquifer. Many animals besides fish live in freshwater biomes. This includes crocodiles, hippopotamus ...
What do plants and animals live in freshwater?
What Type of Plants & Animals Live in Lakes?
- Lake Plants. Aquatic plants like cattails and pickerelweed often live in or around lakes. ...
- Fish That Live in Lakes. Too many fish varieties live in lakes to be listed here. ...
- Water Snakes. Several kinds of snakes live near lakes. ...
- Other Lake Animals and Insects. ...
What are some interesting facts about water?
Weird Water Facts
- If you throw boiling hot water into cold air, it will instantly freeze into snow. Everyone knows snowflakes can form when water is cold enough.
- Spring ice formations off the coast of Barrie Island, Manitoulin Island, Ontario. ...
- Some research indicates water maintains its shape around molecules, even after they are removed. ...
What are 5 facts about freshwater?
Interesting Freshwater Biome Facts: Only 3% of the water on Earth comes from freshwater biomes. There are over 700 different species of fish that live in a freshwater biome. 99% of all freshwater is either in the form of ice or located in an aquifer. Many animals besides fish live in freshwater biomes.
What are the 3 types of freshwater?
There are different types of freshwater regions:Ponds and lakes.Streams and rivers.Wetlands.
What is freshwater known for?
Freshwater is a precious resource on the Earth's surface. It is also home to many diverse fish, plant, and crustacean species. The habitats that freshwater ecosystems provide consist of lakes, rivers, ponds, wetlands, streams, and springs.
What are the 3 main purposes of freshwater?
Potable water comprises only a small fraction of the total use of water in the United States, with the main uses of freshwater resources being agricultural (for example, irrigation, animal feeding operations) and industrial (for example, cooling towers) activities 1.
Is freshwater salty?
Rain replenishes freshwater in rivers and streams, so they don't taste salty. However, the water in the ocean collects all of the salt and minerals from all of the rivers that flow into it.
How much freshwater is on the planet?
3%3% of the earth's water is fresh. 2.5% of the earth's fresh water is unavailable: locked up in glaciers, polar ice caps, atmosphere, and soil; highly polluted; or lies too far under the earth's surface to be extracted at an affordable cost. 0.5% of the earth's water is available fresh water.
Is fresh water safe to drink?
Never drink water from a natural source that you haven't purified, even if the water looks clean. Water in a stream, river or lake may look clean, but it can still be filled with bacteria, viruses, and parasites that can result in waterborne diseases, such as cryptosporidiosis or giardiasis.
Where is most freshwater found?
ice and glaciersAnd, of the total freshwater, over 68 percent is locked up in ice and glaciers. Another 30 percent of freshwater is in the ground. Fresh surface-water sources, such as rivers and lakes, only constitute about 22,300 cubic miles (93,100 cubic kilometers), which is about 1/150th of one percent of total water.
Is freshwater one word?
Freshwater is an adjective used to describe inland bodies of water and things that live in water that is not salty. It is two words—fresh water—when it doesn't function as an adjective. So a freshwater lake, for instance, is one that has fresh water, and a freshwater fish is one that lives in fresh water.
How long is fresh water left?
But that same a month, as storms battered the country, a government-backed report issued a stark warning: America is running out of water. Within as little as 50 years, many regions of the United States could see their freshwater supply reduced by as much as a third, warn scientists.
What percentage of the Earth is freshwater?
Earth's fresh water : Of all the water that exists on our planet, roughly 97% is saltwater and less than 3% is freshwater. Most of Earth's freshwater is frozen in glaciers, ice caps, or is deep underground in aquifers.
Where is 97% of Earth's water found?
the oceansOver 97 percent of the earth's water is found in the oceans as salt water. Two percent of the earth's water is stored as fresh water in glaciers, ice caps, and snowy mountain ranges. That leaves only one percent of the earth's water available to us for our daily water supply needs.
What are the 4 freshwater types?
Four Types of Freshwater Wetlands. There are 4 main types of Freshwater Wetlands in North America; Ponds, Marshes, Swamps, and Peat bogs.
What are the 2 types of freshwater?
Static water, which comes primarily from lakes and ponds, is called lentic water. Flowing water, which comes from streams and rivers, is called lotic water.
What are the 2 categories of freshwater?
The two major divisions of freshwater ecosystems are the lentic ecosystems and the lotic ecosystems.
What are the examples of fresh water?
Fresh water is found in glaciers, lakes, reservoirs, ponds, rivers, streams, wetlands and even groundwater.
What is fresh water?
Freshwater is defined as water with low concentrations of dissolved salts.
Where is the remaining 0.3% of freshwater found?
The remaining 0.3% of freshwater on the planet Earth is found in lakes, rivers, swamps and the atmosphere.
How long can a human live without food?
The human body can survive weeks without feed, but only a few days without freshwater.
How much of the world's water is frozen?
1.7% of the world’s water is frozen and therefore unusable. 1
How much water do Americans drink?
Americans drink more than one billion glasses of tap water per day. 11
How much water is needed to grow a day's food?
About 6,800 gallons of water is required to grow a day’s food for a family of four. 3. To create one pint of beer it takes 20 gallons of water. 3. 780 million people lack access to an improved water source. 4. In just one day, 200 million work hours are consumed by women collecting water for their families. 4.
How many states are anticipating water shortages by 2016?
Thirty-six states are anticipating water shortages by 2016. 14. 300 tons of water are required to manufacture 1 ton of steel. 15. 1 in 6 gallons of water leak from utility pipes before reaching customers in the US. 15. American use 5.7 billion gallons per day from toilet flushes. 15.
What is the water on the moon?
NASA has discovered water in the form of ice on the moon. 40
How much does a gallon of water weigh?
Water weighs about 8 pounds a gallon. 5
What percentage of the world's population lives in the driest half of the planet?
85% of the world population lives in the driest half of the planet. 13
How much freshwater is in the great lakes?
Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are technically one lake. This is because the flow of water through the Straits of Mackinac keeps their water levels in near-equilibrium. This makes Lake Michigan-Huron the largest freshwater lake in the world (by surface area)
Why are oceans salt water and lakes freshwater?
You can easily fact check why don't oceans freeze as easily as freshwater lakes by examining the linked well-known sources.
what is the largest freshwater lake in the world?
It was first assumed that the sharks in the freshwater Lake Nicaragua were an endemic species, but it was later observed that the sharks were able to jump up and down the rapids of the freshwater San Juan River (which connects Lake Nicaragua and the Caribbean Sea) like salmon.
When ice forms on a freshwater lake?
In 1980 a Texaco oil rig accidentally drilled into the Diamond Crystal Salt Company salt mine under the lake causing the freshwater lake to drain down the mine. As of the result of this, nearby canal water REVERSED it's direction causing permanent damage to the nearby ecosystem.
What percent of the Earth's water is fresh?
Just 3.5 percent of Earth’s water is fresh—that is, with few salts in it. You can find Earth’s freshwater in our lakes, rivers, and streams, but don’t forget groundwater and glaciers. Over 68 percent of Earth’s freshwater is locked up in ice and glaciers. And another 30 percent is in groundwater.
Why is water important to life?
Water could be the key to finding life. There aren’t many qualities that are true of all life on Earth, but the need for water is one of them. It’s in all living things, whether they live at the bottom of the ocean or the driest desert. Water made life possible on Earth. Because of this, astrobiologists (scientists who search for life on other ...
Why does water form round droplets?
That’s why water forms round droplets. Not all liquids do that. This “stickiness” helps get water from the roots of plants up to the leaves. Water molecules travel up thin straws called xylem in the plant by holding onto each other and the walls of the tube.
What are the three states of water?
We experience water in all three states: solid ice, liquid water, and gas water vapor. That’s actually pretty unusual. While all substances can be solid, liquid, or gas, a lot of them only change states at extreme temperatures.
Why does ice float?
The water molecules form rings when water freezes. All that space makes ice less dense. This is why it floats. This is great because ice floating on top of a body of water lets the rest of it stay liquid. If ice sank, whole oceans could freeze solid!
How much of the Earth's water is in the oceans?
Almost all Earth’s water is in the oceans. A whopping 96.5 percent of water on Earth is in our oceans, covering 71 percent of the surface of our planet. And at any given time, about 0.001 percent is floating above us in the atmosphere.
How much water is in a newborn?
Our bodies are mostly water. A newborn baby is 78 percent water. Adults are 55-60 percent water. Water is involved in just about everything our body does. It’s a big part of the blood that brings nutrients to all our cells. We use it to get rid of wastes.
How do freshwater clams reproduce?
Most of the freshwater clam species reproduce by external fertilization. That means that the male releases its sperm into the water, and this enters the female body thanks to an incurrent siphon.
How much water do clams need?
A very minimal amount of water for a single clam is 10 gallons. However, 30-gallon tanks are much more recommended in order to keep their water parameters stable.
Why do clams have muscular feet?
Clams use their muscular foot for moving laterally, from one side to the other. However, this only allows for super-slow movements, so freshwater clams generally rely on the water current to move. The main scope of the muscular foot is to make digging easier. Indeed, thanks to it, clams can bury into the sandy substrate quite fast and quite agilely.
What do clams eat?
If you are looking for amazing water cleaners, freshwater clams may be the perfect choice for your home tank. These creatures mostly feed on nutritive particles which they collect from the water. Such a particular feeding technique is also known as filter-feeding.
How long do clams live?
Freshwater clams have an extremely brief lifespan, and they rarely exceed six months of life. However, this can often be even much, much shorter than half a year. If a clam does not acclimate well to its new captive environment, it may die within a couple of days.
Do clams filter water?
Moreover, one single clam can filter gallons and gallons of water each day, depending on its shell size.
Do clams have a circulatory system?
Freshwater clams have an open circulatory system, meaning that their blood vessels are not able of fully transporting blood to the vital organs. Instead, blood constantly flows around their inner bodies.
Do stingrays have fish?
Stingrays feature extremely unique body shapes and thanks to that, people often do not associate them with fish at all. However, not only they are fish, but they are also closely related to sharks.
Do freshwater stingrays have more venom than saltwater stingrays?
Although the reasons hiding behind such facts are still to be fully researched and understood, recent investigations have shown that freshwater stingrays are more venomous when compared to saltwater ones.
