Biological Molecules: Water Flashcards

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1
Q

what are the properties of water?

A
  • a metabolite in many metabolic reactions
  • water acts as an important solvent so metabolic reactions occur
  • relatively high specific heat capacity so buffers changes in temperature
  • has strong cohesion between water so supports columns of water in tube-like transport cells of plants
  • relatively large latent heat of vaporisation so provides a cooling effect
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2
Q

why is water an important metabolite?

A
  • water is involved in many metabolic reactions such as hydrolysis and condensation reactions
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3
Q

what is a hydrolysis reaction?

A
  • breaks the chemical bond between two molecules, involves the use of a water molecule
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4
Q

what is a condensation reaction?

A
  • joins 2 molecules together to form a chemical bond, involves the elimination of a water molecules
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5
Q

what is an example of condensation reaction?

A

• amino acids are joined together by polypeptides

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6
Q

what is an example of a hydrolysis reaction?

A

energy from ATP is released

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7
Q

why is water a good solvent?

A

• because water is polar which means that the slightly positively charged end of water molecule is attracted to the negative ion
• the slightly negatively charged end of water molecule is attracted to the positive ion

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8
Q

how does the waters polarity make water a good solvent, examples?

A

• ions surround water molecules = they dissolve
• living organisms can take up useful substances dissolved in water and the dissolved substances can be transported around the organisms body
(e.g. mineral ions)

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9
Q

why does water have a relatively high specific heat capacity?

A

*a lot of energy is needed to break the hydrogen bonds between water molecules give water a high specific heat capacity

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10
Q

what happens (in terms of heat energy) when water is heated?

A

• a lot of heat energy is used to break hydrogen bonds between water molecules
• this means that there is less heat energy available to actually increase the temp of water
• so water has a high specific heat capacity as it takes a lot of energy to heat it up

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11
Q

why is water having a high specific heat capacity useful for living organisms?

A

• water doesn’t experience rapid temperature changes
• water is a good habitat as the temperature under water is likely to be more stable than on land
• water inside organisms remains at a fairly stable temperature helping them maintain a constant internal body temperature

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12
Q

why is strong cohesion between water molecules important?

A

supports columns of water in tube-like transport cells of plants and produces surface tension where water meets air

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13
Q

why is a relatively large latent heat of vaporisation good?

A
  • provides a cooling effect with little loss of water through evaporation
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