WATER
The second most important constituent of the biosphere is liquid water. This can only exist in a very narrow range of temperatures, since water freezes at 0℃ and boils at 100℃. This is only a tiny range compared with the low temperatures of some other planets and the hot interior of
the earth, let the temperature of the sun. (1)__________
As we know, life would only be possible on the face (2)__________
of a planet had temperatures somewhere within this range. (3)__________
The earth’’s supply of water probably remains quite fairly (4)__________
constant in quantity. A certain number of hydrogen atoms,
which are one of the main constituents of water,
are lost by escaping from the atmosphere to
out space, but they are probably just about replaced by (5)__________
new water rising away from the depths of the earth during (6)__________
volcanic action. The total quantity of water is not known,
and it is about enough to cover the surface of the globe (7)_________
to a depth of about two and three-quarter kms.
Most of itD97%Dis in the form of the salt waters of the
oceans. The rest is fresh, but three quarter of this is (8)_________
in the form of ice at the Poles and on mountains,
and cannot be used by living systems when melteD.Of the (9)_________
remaining fraction, which is somewhat fewer than 1% of the (10)__________
whole, there is 10D20 times as much stored as underground
water as is actually on the surface. There is also a minor,
but extremely important, fraction of the water supply
which is present as water vapor in the atmosphere.