 In gay watery enclaves, water also functions as a protective force. Spits of land cocooned or barricaded by water that take hours to reach by car or ferry are made for distance from gossip and prying eyes and shelter from convention. Chemically speaking, water is a near universal solvent. Its arrangement of oxygen and hydrogen atoms allow the molecule to dissolve more substances than any other liquid found in nature. The sheer strength of water itself can disrupt another molecule's electrostatic charge entirely.