We all have come across this fact that water makes different pouring sounds depending on its temperature. We have heard a variety of sounds and think that our ears might be deceiving us, which is not the case. Yes, we are not being deceived till now. This is a true fact and the reason behind this phenomenon is that water changes its viscosity and stickiness according to its temperature. If we take a really powerful microscope and zoom in water with it and look at some water molecules, then we get to see that they are shaped like miniature boomerangs. At the apex of the boomerang we can see an oxygen atom and on each of the arms, we see hydrogen atoms. Oxygen pulls the electrons of itself and the hydrogen towards itself very tightly, and that makes the oxygen a bit minus. The hydrogens are correspondingly therefore a bit plus. As a result, when water molecules are sitting together side by side in solution, the positively charged hydrogens are attracted to the negatively charged oxygens of an adjacent molecule and this is called hydrogen bonding. It makes water sticky, and it gives it some of its special properties that in fact help it to make life happen on Earth. So it’s pretty important that this happens.
On the contrary, when water is heated up, the particles start to move much rapidly. They have more kinetic energy which is a function of the temperature. This means that they are zipping past each other much faster. They are therefore gluing onto each other less well and this makes the water runnier or less viscous. So the water fragments make a higher pitched splashing noise when it’s cold.
