Water
Years: 256653BCE - 2547
Water, which covers 71% of the Earth's surface, is vital for all known forms of life.
On Earth, 96.5% of the planet's water is found in seas and oceans, 1.7% in groundwater, 1.7% in glaciers and the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland, a small fraction in other large water bodies, and 0.001% in the air as vapor, clouds (formed of solid and liquid water particles suspended in air), and precipitation.
Only 2.5% of the Earth's water is freshwater, and 98.8% of that water is in ice and groundwater.
Less than 0.3% of all freshwater is in rivers, lakes, and the atmosphere, and an even smaller amount of the Earth's freshwater (0.003%) is contained within biological bodies and manufactured products.
Safe drinking water is essential to humans and other lifeforms even though it provides no calories or organic nutrients.
Approximately 70% of the fresh water used by humans goes to agriculture.
Used in power generation in the form of mills and dams, water plays an important role in the world economy.
It functions as a solvent for a wide variety of chemical substances and facilitates industrial cooling and transportation.