What is the most environmentally friendly way to boil water for, e.g., tea? [more inside]
posted by acm on Jun 6, 2012 - 23 answers

How can you tell where water came from? Lets say I give you a bucket of water taken from a local water source (river, lake, etc). There's some plants and maybe a fish in it as well. What could you tell me about where this water came from, could you pinpoint which body it came from, and how would you come to this conclusion? [more inside]
posted by The Whelk on Dec 1, 2011 - 21 answers

I just microwaved a mug of water. And after about a minute it started making a loud humming noise, like what happens when you run a wet finger around a champagne glass. It sounded like there were aliens landing in my microwave. What happened? [more inside]
posted by chocolatemilkshakes on Feb 25, 2011 - 13 answers

The seas are rising. Climate change has made it inevitable. I have a strange question... Assuming that world sea-level rises by 1 metre over the next hundred years - Would it be possible to cordon off a section of land, somewhere in the centre of a continent, and flood it to create an artificial ocean, thus reducing the consequences of the sea rise? [more inside]
posted by 0bvious on Sep 18, 2009 - 30 answers

Why does water fresh out of the tap look white, and then turn clear? [more inside]
posted by madcaptenor on Sep 3, 2009 - 10 answers

Are there any substances, other than water, where the solid form is less dense than the liquid? [more inside]
posted by Baby_Balrog on Feb 20, 2007 - 19 answers