What is the ability of water to moderate temperature within living organisms and in an organism's environment?

Answer 1

In a classic book called The Fitness of the Environment, ecologist Lawrence Henderson highlights the importance of water to life. While acknowledging that life adapts to its environment through natural selection, Henderson emphasizes that for life to exist at all, the environment must first be a suitable abode.

Life on Earth began in water and evolved there for 3 billion years before spreading onto land. Modern life, even terrestrial life, remains tied to water. All living organisms require water more than any other substance. Human beings, for example can survive for quite a few weeks without food, but only a week or so without water. Molecules of water participate in many chemical reactions necessary to sustain life. Most cells are surrounded by water, and cells themselves are about 70-95% water."

and paraphrased from the same source:

"....four emergent properties of water that contribute to Earth's suitability as an environment for life: cohesive behavior(hydrogen bonds+this property's surface tension phenomena+adhesion), ability to moderate temperature (the ability to absorb heat with only a slight change to its own temperature), expansion upon freezing (few substances are less dense in solid form than in liquid), and use as a solvent (behavioral characteristics of H+ and OH+ ions when mixed with an acid or base)."

Answer 2

It takes a relatively large amount of heat energy to change the temperature of water.

Some related terms you could look up to find out more include "specific heat", "volumetric heat capacity", and "thermal inertia".

Answer 3

Water moderate air temperature by absorbing heat from air that is warmer, and releasing the stored heat to air that is cooler.