# Is water a chemical?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-water-a-chemical/232593
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 4, 2004, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-water-a-chemical/232593 "2004-03-04T22:02:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2004, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-water-a-chemical/232593/1 "2004-03-04T22:02:42Z")
That’s it. That’s the question. Would a chemist say water is a chemical, or are chemicals generally considered something man made, or made with chemical reactions (which, technically, water is made by, but I don’t know if that counts).
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### Author:  [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2004, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-water-a-chemical/232593/2 "2004-03-04T22:23:18Z")
That’s pretty much the answer too. Pretty much any matter is considered a chemical to THIS chemist. Doesn’t matter where it came from, who or what made it or what that material is.
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### Author:  [@Time\_Like\_Tears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Time_Like_Tears)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2004, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-water-a-chemical/232593/3 "2004-03-04T22:23:19Z")
I don’t think there is any water on Earth that is pure H2O. Oceans and streams collect particles of everything they touch, assimilating them into the water that flows there. I would have to say that water (what we can get hold of) is a chemical, or many chemicals depending on where exactly you get it from and what’s really in it. For that matter, H2O would have to be a chemical as well.
Ok, no more thinking as I type.
Merriam Webster says yes.
Main Entry: chemical
Function: noun
: a substance obtained by a chemical process or used for producing a chemical effect
Water can be both.
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2004, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-water-a-chemical/232593/4 "2004-03-04T22:57:00Z")
It’s absolutely a chemical, by any accepted definition of the term. I’ve never heard of “chemical” only referring to manmade chemicals.
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### Author:  [@feppytweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/feppytweed)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2004, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-water-a-chemical/232593/5 "2004-03-04T23:07:00Z")
actually it is a compound. made of 2 elements. look it up. [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com)
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### Author:  [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2004, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-water-a-chemical/232593/6 "2004-03-04T23:22:36Z")
Yes. Pure water is a chemical, because it is chemically homogenous - any small amount of it behaves the same with respect to other substances as the whole of it.
Sand is not a chemical, because you could physically seperate sand into different substances that would have different properties.
A chemical can be either natural, manmade or both.
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2004, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-water-a-chemical/232593/7 "2004-03-04T23:34:59Z")
> [@Smeghead](#):
>
> I’ve never heard of “chemical” only referring to manmade chemicals.
Heh. You’ve obviously never read any alternative medicine or health-food sites. :rolleyes:
In answer to the OP, water is undoubtedly a chemical. And yes, **MSUbulldogs101** , it is also a compound.
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### Author:  [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-water-a-chemical/232593/8 "2004-03-05T00:19:18Z")
Yes. Water is a chemical. Most things are chemicals, and water most assuredly is one of them - and it can indeed undergo chemical reactions.
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### Author:  [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2004, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-water-a-chemical/232593/9 "2004-03-05T00:25:19Z")
[indent][**Water is called "the universal solvent"**](http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/waterproperties.html)
😃 [sup] **Click on above and find out more about water than you want to know.** [/sup][/indent]
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### Author:  [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2004, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-water-a-chemical/232593/10 "2004-03-05T00:57:16Z")
> [@MSUbulldogs101](#):
>
> actually it is a compound. made of 2 elements. look it up. [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com)
Which does not imply that it isn’t a chemical.
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### Author:  [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2004, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-water-a-chemical/232593/11 "2004-03-05T01:45:48Z")
Right. Compounds are just a certain type of chemical.
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2004, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-water-a-chemical/232593/12 "2004-03-05T02:14:02Z")
An electric spark in a vacuum is about the only thing that most people will ever see which is NOT a chemical or made of chemicals.
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### Author:  [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-water-a-chemical/232593/13 "2004-03-05T02:35:17Z")
I would say: chemical, as suggested above, means, roughly (I’m sure someone else can do better) “any substance composed in a describable way of elements, compounds, etc.” _However_ in english, a word can typically be used to mean “except obvious examples thereof.” (cf. “rectangle” technically includes square but in common parlance is used to mean “non-square rectangle”…) So, IMHO, it depends on context: “chemical” can be used to mean “just about any substance” (incl. water) or, alternatively, to mean “any substance but whatever is considered normal” eg. any manufactured chemical, etc.
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### Author:  [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2004, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-water-a-chemical/232593/14 "2004-03-05T03:58:00Z")
> [@Squink](#):
>
> An electric spark in a vacuum is about the only thing that most people will ever see which is NOT a chemical or made of chemicals.
Well, that plus light. Although, yeah, the sun is made of chemicals, but again the light isn’t made of sun. Electric light isn’t made of coal, either.
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### Author:  [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2004, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-water-a-chemical/232593/15 "2004-03-05T04:29:06Z")
Cake batter is not a chemical. Sodium bicarbonate and sucrose might be two of the chemicals in it.
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### Author:  [@Nishroch\_Order](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nishroch_Order)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2004, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-water-a-chemical/232593/16 "2004-03-05T05:41:52Z")
_slight hijack_
> [@](#):
>
> An electric spark in a vacuum is about the only thing that most people will ever see which is NOT a chemical or made of chemicals.
oh? hmm…I cant really imagine seeing an electric spark in a vacuum. As far as i know, a spark is seen in lightning because the air molecules get “plasmarize” and explode in a sense. Infact, i think you cant even get an electric current going in vacuum. No medium.
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### Author:  [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2004, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-water-a-chemical/232593/17 "2004-03-05T05:44:20Z")
> [@\_Deva\_](#):
>
> I don’t think there is any water on Earth that is pure H2O.
nitpick:
Distillation produces pure water doesn’t it?
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### Author:  [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2004, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-water-a-chemical/232593/18 "2004-03-05T06:02:48Z")
Dihydrogen monoxide, commonly called “water” is not only a chemical, but is in fact one of the most dangerous substances known to man, killing thousands every year though accidental inhalation, and many injuries due to contact with the gaseous form. Also, it is a major componet of pesticidal runoff and acid rain, and is found in cancerous tumors as well.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2004, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-water-a-chemical/232593/19 "2004-03-05T06:41:33Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Dihydrogen monoxide
Let’s not pretty up the situation, here. Call this vile substance by its proper name, Hydroxic Acid.
It’s folks like you who’d let Hydroxic Acid into our schools, if you had your way.
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2004, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-water-a-chemical/232593/20 "2004-03-05T06:57:02Z")
> [@cainxinth](#):
>
> nitpick:
> Distillation produces pure water doesn’t it?
Not quite. Volatiles dissolved in the water (such as alcohols) may also condense out into the distillate, and atmospheric contaminants might find their way in. Distilled water will be virtually free of dissolved solids, such as salts, but will never reach 100% purity. If nothing else, atmospheric gasses will eventually dissolve in it.
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