1.7 Water

Question 1

why is water a polar molecule?

Answer 1

oxygen has a slight negative charge
hydrogen has a slight positive charge
so attracts the covalent bond strongly
hydrogen bonds from between (attractive force between opposite charges)

Question 2

what are the 4 properties of water?

Answer 2

-high specific heat capacity
-large latent heat of vaporization
-cohesion between water molecules
-metabolite
-universal solvent

Question 3

high specific heat capacity importance

Answer 3

water absorbs relatively high amounts of heat before temperature changes.
(helps organisms maintain a constant body temperature since they’re mainly made of water)

Question 4

large latent heat of vaporization

Answer 4

water absorbs large amount of heat before it evaporates
evaporation of a small amount of water is an effective means of cooling (temp regulations help organisms maintain a constant body temp)

Question 5

cohesion between water molecules importance

Answer 5

water molecules tend to stick together strongly
column of water doesn’t break when pulled up a narrow tube e.g the xylem during transpiration

Question 6

metabolite importance

Answer 6

water is reactive
condensation releases water
forms chemical bonds e.g amino acids joined my condensation reactions to form polypeptides.

Question 7

universal solvent importance

Answer 7

water can dissolve in other substances e.g oxygen urea
-advantage or metabolic reactions talking place in solvents in that the random movement of molecules increases the rate of successful collisions increases.