You might not see it, but this is probably the strangest thing in the universe.

你可能不這麼認為，但它應該是宇宙裡最奇怪的東西了。

Here's why.

原因如下。

Every molecule of water on the Earth and inside you or any other living thing has existed for billions of years.

地球上、你體內或任何生物中的每一粒水分子，都已經在地球上存在好幾十億年了。

After it came to Earth, that water has been cycling through rocks, air, animals, plants and back again.

在它來到地球之後，水已經在岩石、空氣、動物和植物間循環了無數次。

Each molecule has been on an incredible voyage before coming to you.

每一粒水分子在遇見你之前，都經歷了一場你無法想像的旅程。

At some point, the water inside you would have been inside dinosaurs, bacteria, the oceans, storm clouds, the polar ice caps and much more.

某種角度來說，你體內的水可能也在恐龍、細菌、海洋、雷雨胞、極地冰帽或其他地方待過。

All of the water on Earth is alien.

地球上所有水都是從外星來的。

They might be a familiar part of our world, but our oceans formed hundreds of millions of years after our planet took shape.

對於我們的世界而言它們或許很常見，但海洋在地球成型好幾百萬年之後就生成了。

The water arrived on asteroids and comets from space, objects from the edge of our solar system.

水在太空中附著到小行星和彗星上，而這些東西是來自我們太陽系周圍的邊緣。

They were leftovers of the vast clouds of dust and rocks that didn't quite make it into planets.

它們是沒有變成星球、大量塵埃和岩石的殘留物。

This is the origin of all the water you can see on the Earth.

這是地球上可見的所有水的起源。

Water doesn't follow the normal rules of chemistry.

水並沒有遵循正常的化學定律。

For a start, it shouldn't really be a liquid on our planet.

首先，他們在我們的星球上不應該是液體。

A water molecule is made from two very light atoms, hydrogen and oxygen.

一個水分子是由兩種非常輕的原子組成，氫和氧。

And at the temperatures and pressures on the surface of the Earth, rules of chemistry say that water should be a gas.

在地表上的溫度還有壓力，根據化學定律水應該要是氣態的。

And, unlike any other chemical, when water freezes it expands.

還有，不像其他的化學物質，水結冰時體積會變大。

And so ice floats on water.

所以冰會漂浮在水面上。

Now you see this every day, but take a moment to think about how weird that is.

你每天都會看到這個現象，但花點時間思考這個現象有多怪。

Over time, this odd behaviour has been very useful.

隨著時間推移，這個奇怪的行為變得非常有用。

By insulating the water underneath, floating ice has enabled complex life to survive and evolve on our planet, despite the many ice ages that have frozen the Earth's surface solid.

冰隔絕了下方的水，浮冰使下方多種生命得以在地球上存活和進化，儘管許多冰河時期都冰凍了陸地。

And the strangeness just goes on and on.

而這個怪異還在繼續。

Did you know that hot water freezes faster than cold?

你知不知道熱水比冷水更容易結冰？

Yes, really.

是真的。

No one knows why.

沒有人知道為什麼。

Water molecules can float upwards, against the force of gravity.

水分子可以抵抗地吸引力向上漂浮。

That's because they love to stick to each other.

這是因為它們喜歡跟其他分子黏在一起。

They're so good at it that they can actually pull each other up through tiny channels, such as the tiny blood vessels in your body.

它們真的超會黏在一起，它們可以利用細小的通道將彼此拉在一起，就像身體裡的血管一樣。

That's how oxygen and nutrients reach the edges of your brain.

這就是氧氣和營養成份到達你腦子裡的方法。

The same process, called capillary action, allows plants to move water from deep below the ground to nourish the leaves and branches that grow in the sunshine.

一樣的過程，又稱為「毛細作用」，使植物可以將深在地底的水移動並滋潤日照下的枝葉。

Our solar system is drowning in water.

我們的太陽系可說是泡在水裡。

Once upon a time, we thought that we were alone on Earth with so much water, but in fact it's the second most common molecule in the universe.

曾經我們認為我們地球是唯一有如此多水的，但事實上水是宇宙間第二常見的分子。

We now know there's water on the moon, on Mars, Pluto.

我們現在知道月球、火星跟冥王星上有水。

In fact there's H2O on almost every object in our solar system.

事實上，太陽系裡面幾乎所有東西上都會有水。

And where there's water, there could be life.

而只要有水在的地方，就有可能有生命。

So pour yourself a glass of water now, and take a good look at this colourless, featureless and tasteless material.

所以為自己倒一杯水、好好端詳這個無色、無具體形狀又無味道的東西。

It's actually remarkable.

它其實很厲害。

It breaks so many rules of chemistry that scientists struggle to understand it.

它打破了好多化學常規，科學家們抓破頭想要了解它。

But without its rebel behaviour, none of us, nor our world, would exist.

但如果沒有它叛逆的行為，我們或我們的世界都不會存在。

You're only here watching this video because water is so strange.

你能在這看這支影片，都是因為水真是太怪了。