well matt...

as an amateur astronomer, I found your question quite provocative. our planet's molten metal core stores a lot of heat left over from the initial creation of the planet, when lots of stuff globbed together into a ball. so this helps keep our oceans from freezing. vents in the ocean floor occasionally release heat from deep down below the crust. also, our planet boasts an atmosphere that holds heat from the sun in to a certain degree, also warming our planet's surface. the greenhouse effect is a sign that this situation is becoming more extreme.

so...your question. is it possible to have a planet made up totally of liquid water? i'm going to say NO. here's why. although our atmosphere is made up of a lot of water vapor, it's the carbon molecules (which are not part of water) that trap the heat in. so if it's only water on the planet, there would be no carbon and no sun-heat-trapping. and Earth (ha, couldn't be called that, i guess) would be a ball of ice instead, because heat would not store very well in water (remember, water is used commercially for COOLING purposes).

so there would be no atmosphere at all. not even water vapor, because currently water vapor (clouds) is produced by ocean evaporation. how does water evaporate into a gaseous state? HEAT. it all comes down to heat, my friends. a planet of all water. no carbon in the atmosphere. no heat trapped from the sun. no water evaporation into clouds. water surface freezes.

remember, i am only an amateur. do not take this information as fact or anything - go to NASA for official scientific info. this just came out of my head. though it is probably a good theory - i'll defend it to the death.

I would just like to say...

ABOUT TIME!

*scurries off*

Categorically speaking, it needs somethin' to cling to. (Blame Bill Clinton for such an all inclusive opener like that... What does categorically mean anyhow?)

What about II Peter 3:5 where standing means consisting?

Naturally, earth is a dirty ball of water where most the dirt is on the surface. This "dirtyness" might account for all the carbon/lava necessary to explain the water ball theory.