system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
How can water be heavier than the respective elements that make it up?

So I understand basically that electrolysis of water splits water into its base elements of Hydrogen and Oxygen, but how can combining them create something that is heavier than the sum of it's parts? How can both Hydrogen and Oxygen be lighter than water if they make up water?

Edit; Wow, this has been really eye opening to how little I understand chemistry. Thanks everyone that replied and I'll definitely be trying to learn more.
gpt
Water actually weighs very slightly less than its constituent parts. Bound states are lower energy than unbounded states and this is manifested as a slight defect in mass. This is why you must put energy into the system to break it apart.