Here is an example from the chapter I am working on today ... It is more incredible than all the UFOs and Zombies combined, if you ask me! 
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... The temperature and climate of much of the Earth, compared to other nearby planets, just happens to fit the bill [for maintaining ample water in liquid form on its surface].
Many substances can exist in liquid form under extreme conditions (for example, mercury or molten iron), but almost none can do so in the conditions of temperature and pressure naturally and widely present on our planet. That’s a special talent of water. In comparison to almost all other materials, water has a rather wide range of temperatures and pressures within which it remains liquid - pure water will freeze at 0°C (32°F) and boil at 100°C (212°F) at sea level. But, even though wider than other liquids, that range is razor-thin in comparison to all possible temperatures in our universe.
In comparison to the total range of temperatures existing in the cosmos, let alone on super-hot or freezing worlds, it is crucial to our lives that Earth’s regions and seasons permit surface temperatures that maintain liquid water’s needed range.
And conversely, liquid water’s needed range happens to match our planet’s temperatures in return. This is itself a happy coincidence: The planet could have been too hot or cold for liquid water, or water’s properties could have been not what they are at such temps. The water-world-sun dance must be just right. Our life is balanced upon this synchronicity.
...
Not only does water become liquid in a moderate and temperate climate, water helps moderate temperature and climate in turn, thus helping to keep itself liquid.
Liquid water is a heat storage device, helping to moderate the extremes of temperature across our planet. Water's wide liquid range and high heat capacity help keep the temperatures on the surface of our Earth's surface surprisingly stable. I’ve previously mentioned how, for example, liquid water can absorb heat in a manner more effective and efficient than any landmass, allowing large liquid water bodies to work as heat storage batteries, recharged daily by the sun. The heat of sunlight is absorbed each day in great quantities by the waters of the oceans, and is released when the sun sets, thereby serving to moderate swings in temperature between day and night. Water can do so because it possesses one of the highest ‘specific heats’ of any known substance, requiring great amounts of energy to be applied to it to raise its temperature but a few degrees. As the earth is over two-thirds covered with liquid water, those characteristics allow our planet to undergo extreme variations in temperature between night-time and daytime, summer and winter, without Earth’s water turning all to ice or boiling away. Thus, this ability of liquid water facilitates climates in which much of the water can remain liquid. Liquid water thus pulls itself up by its own bootstraps in this way.
The importance of this effect is shown, for example, by examining the deserts of our planet which, lacking the benefits of water, undergo blasting heat by day, and bitter chill at night.
Cowboys stranded in the desert might freeze to death well before dying of thirst.
... and don't even get me started talking about Venus and Mars ...
~~~
... The temperature and climate of much of the Earth, compared to other nearby planets, just happens to fit the bill [for maintaining ample water in liquid form on its surface].
Many substances can exist in liquid form under extreme conditions (for example, mercury or molten iron), but almost none can do so in the conditions of temperature and pressure naturally and widely present on our planet. That’s a special talent of water. In comparison to almost all other materials, water has a rather wide range of temperatures and pressures within which it remains liquid - pure water will freeze at 0°C (32°F) and boil at 100°C (212°F) at sea level. But, even though wider than other liquids, that range is razor-thin in comparison to all possible temperatures in our universe.
In comparison to the total range of temperatures existing in the cosmos, let alone on super-hot or freezing worlds, it is crucial to our lives that Earth’s regions and seasons permit surface temperatures that maintain liquid water’s needed range.
And conversely, liquid water’s needed range happens to match our planet’s temperatures in return. This is itself a happy coincidence: The planet could have been too hot or cold for liquid water, or water’s properties could have been not what they are at such temps. The water-world-sun dance must be just right. Our life is balanced upon this synchronicity.
...
Not only does water become liquid in a moderate and temperate climate, water helps moderate temperature and climate in turn, thus helping to keep itself liquid.
Liquid water is a heat storage device, helping to moderate the extremes of temperature across our planet. Water's wide liquid range and high heat capacity help keep the temperatures on the surface of our Earth's surface surprisingly stable. I’ve previously mentioned how, for example, liquid water can absorb heat in a manner more effective and efficient than any landmass, allowing large liquid water bodies to work as heat storage batteries, recharged daily by the sun. The heat of sunlight is absorbed each day in great quantities by the waters of the oceans, and is released when the sun sets, thereby serving to moderate swings in temperature between day and night. Water can do so because it possesses one of the highest ‘specific heats’ of any known substance, requiring great amounts of energy to be applied to it to raise its temperature but a few degrees. As the earth is over two-thirds covered with liquid water, those characteristics allow our planet to undergo extreme variations in temperature between night-time and daytime, summer and winter, without Earth’s water turning all to ice or boiling away. Thus, this ability of liquid water facilitates climates in which much of the water can remain liquid. Liquid water thus pulls itself up by its own bootstraps in this way.
The importance of this effect is shown, for example, by examining the deserts of our planet which, lacking the benefits of water, undergo blasting heat by day, and bitter chill at night.
Cowboys stranded in the desert might freeze to death well before dying of thirst.
... and don't even get me started talking about Venus and Mars ...
Gassho,
Jay
Sat/lah today
)
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