Why can liquid water store more heat energy than an equal amount of any other naturally occurring substance?

Answer 1

It is primarily the hydrogen bonds in water that allow it to have such a high heat capacity. The hydrogen bonds in things like ammonia and ethanol give them a high heat capacity, too, though not as high as that of water. Ammonia and ethanol have molecular structures that allow for a lot of hydrogen bonding, and their high heat capacity affirms the idea that the "key" to high heat capacity is hydrogen bonding.

Answer 2

There are two ways of looking at this.

If you add heat energy to water you can get it back again - in theory a 100% efficient process.

Water has a very high specific heat capacity (about 10 times that of copper), so more heat can be stored in a given mass for a given temperature rise.

Answer 3

Technically they don't hold heat - heat is only energy in transit between two masses due to a temperature difference just as rain is only rain while it is falling (once it hits the ground it is a puddle or a lake or a river, etc.) What bodies of water hold is thermal energy, i.e internal energy that can be transferred if the water comes in contact with something at a lower temperature. Energy can be transferred into bodies of water (via heat) by conduction from warmer substances or convection as warmer substances flow into them or by radiation (like the sun shining on them). The bodies of water absorb the heat and warm up with the energy being stored in the molecules of water in the form of increased vibration of the OH bonds, rotation of the molecules and translational energy as the molecules rattle around banging into each other.

Answer 4

by the sun going inside the water and it gets a lot of hot

Answer 5

because water is open and ice is closed so water has more room for more energy particles

Answer 6

yes