🩷 3.1.7 Water Flashcards
Water is a polar molecule. What does this mean?
This means that water molecules attract each other and from weak interactions called hydrogen bonds
Water has five main properties what are they?
1) is a metabolite
2) is a solvent
3) has a high latent heat of vaporisation
4) has a high specific heat capacity and is used as a buffer
5) cohesion between water molecules
Describe the property water is a metabolite in reactions
Water is involved in many metabolic reactions, including hydrolysis, condensation, photosynthesis and respiration
Describe the property water is a solvent
Many substances dissolve in water. Many metabolic reactions in organisms rely on dissolved substances being able to react with each other. Polar molecules (hydrophilic) dissolve in water.
Water has a high latent heat of vaporisation describe why
It takes a large amount of energy to evaporate water to change its state from a liquid to a gas due to the many hydrogen bonds. For this reason, sweating is effective at cooling the skin as it requires more energy than it would without the hydrogen bonds.
Water has a high specific heat capacity describe why?
The many hydrogen bonds in water impede water molecules from moving. A large amount of energy is needed to increase the temperature of water, it has a high specific key capacity. This means that large bodies of water, such as lakes have a fairly constant temperature (a thermal buffer) providing a stable environment for life.
Water is cohesive describe why?
The hydrogen bonds in water stop water molecules from moving. They hold the molecules of water together by cohesion. Cohesion between water molecules allows a continuous stream of water to be drawn through the xylem of plants in a continuous column. Cohesion at the surface of a body of water is called surface tension some small organisms take advantage of this.
