Alice's Adventures in Water-land

The following sections are included:

• Contents

• Preface

• Acknowledgments

Just like any other incoming college freshman, Alice eagerly awaited the very first day of school. She could still hear her mother's reassuring and soothing voice that morning: “Good luck, Alice.” She hurriedly ran down the stairs, not wanting to be late on that very special day (Fig. 1.1).

As soon as she entered the classroom and found herself a seat, Alice started to entertain pleasant thoughts of college life when a tall, lean man with a stooped posture entered the room…

The next day, Professor Holmes was subjected to a barrage of questions regarding the previous lecture. Some were discussing the topics among themselves in an animated fashion while others were just simply chatting.

Professor Holmes' incessant tapping on the desk proved to be futile. He had hoped to catch his class's attention but his tapping only got drowned in a sea of voices…

Each morning at the stroke of seven, Alice's cuckoo clock would fill her room with its melodious chime. As Alice was wont to do since she was a little girl, she would run to the window and enjoy the view. This morning ritual always invigorated her and would jump-start her day regardless of the time of year.

Looking out of her bedroom window and seeing the fog did not dampen her spirits. She had always likened the fog to a bride's tulle veil partially hiding the radiant face of a blooming bride…

The melodious chime of the cuckoo clock roused Alice from her sleep. Looking around her room, which was bathed in the morning sun, she exclaimed, “What a beautiful day!”

Alice was still overwhelmed by the experience of the previous day. It seemed she now knew some secrets no one else was aware of — except, of course, the professor, the inventor of the shrinking machine…

One, two, three… The cuckoo clock's melodious chime filled Alice's room at the stroke of seven. She scurried to the window as she heard squealing from outside. A delightful sight greeted her as she drew back the curtains.

The tall trees lining her street were thickly blanketed with snow (Fig. 5.1). So heavily snow laden were they that some of the branches had broken and were dangling precariously from electricity transmission wires. The thick snow that had accumulated overnight had created a makeshift skiing area. Youngsters clad in ski gear were already deftly maneuvering their way among the crowd. Young couples with small children were having a field day in the freshly fallen snow…

Even before the cuckoo clock could do its job, Alice was awakened by what sounded like water pounding on the roof. Rubbing sleep from her eyes, she ran to the window, only to find the flowers in the planter boxes overflowing with rainwater. She was tempted to go back to bed and curl up to sleep, but how could she let a day pass without her scientific explorations? She hurriedly left for the laboratory, braving the rain to get to there on time (Fig. 6.1)…

Since she was a child, Alice would spend winter breaks at her grandparents' farm. But for the very first time, she had decided to stay to forego the farm visit, opting instead to discuss with the Professor her recent explorations.

Alice's mind wandered to the beckoning of winter on the farm with its promise of panoramic views of snow-capped mountains and the lake that would become a skating rink as the temperature fell below freezing. In her childhood, she had often wondered what it was that supported the ice on top of the water…

Although Alice had understood the differences between ice and water, she wondered what Professor Holmes meant about water also having an ‘open structure.’ The concept was not clear. She vividly recalled that when she crossed from the solid phase to the liquid phase, all the ‘structure’ of the ice had collapsed. Did the word ‘structure’ have different meanings when applied to the solid and the liquid phases?…

On the way to the laboratory, Alice saw a billboard advertisement of a new fruit juice mix. Beneath the mouth watering visual was a slogan: BEAT THE HEAT, JOIN THE HEAP. Her imagination transported her to the beach, sipping the refreshing concoction.

The loud honking of a car horn startled her, and she realized she had been daydreaming. “I must hurry,” Alice thought…

“Oh mom, we don't need to go to the doctor. It's just a cold,” Alice protested.

“We don't know if it's really just a cold, and we don't want to take chances,” her mother said. “So you'd better get dressed as I have made an appointment with Dr. Edwards at 2:00 pm.”

When Alice and her mother got to the clinic, there was already a long queue of patients waiting for their turn to be called…

It was a glorious day at the beach. Alice squatted on a mat and read a novel while her cousin Matthew, a three-year old with big, aquamarine eyes and light yellow curly hair, was busily shoveling the sand. He would use either his toy shovel or his tiny, stubby hands to gather handfuls of sand, carefully depositing his collection inside a toy pail…

The semester was drawing to a close. Alice had accumulated a wealth of knowledge on water as well as its relevance to life on earth. It was the day of the professor's final lecture. Alice guessed that Professor Holmes would be summarizing the semester's lectures. When he sauntered into the classroom without his notes, Alice knew she had guessed right…

Alice's body clock had roused her from sleep even before her trusty cuckoo clock could do its job. Today she would visit the professor in his lab to clear some cobwebs in her mind regarding the various machines, as well as to thank him for everything that he had done for her. She was sure she would see him at the university when the next semester began, but she wanted to express her gratitude for all his help. Through his mentorship, she had been able to explore the fascinating world of molecules — and how they interact to produce such a unique liquid so vital to life…