Unit 1: Water and pH Flashcards
The most important and abundant inorganic compound in all living systems.
Water
Why do nearly all the body’s chemical reactions occur in a watery medium?
Water has many properties that make it an indispensable compound of life.
The important property of water.
The uneven sharing of valence electrons that confers a partial negative charge near the one oxygen atom and two partial positive charges near two hydrogen atoms in a water molecule
Polarity
What causes the versatility of water as a solvent for ionized or polar substances?
Water’s polar covalent bonds
bent shape
What does water’s polar covalent bond and bent shape do that makes it good as a solvent?
It allows each water molecule to interact with several neighboring ions or molecules.
Composed of solvent and solute
Solution
Dissolves the solute
Solvent
Being dissolved by the solvent
Solute
Solutes that are charged or contain polar covalent bonds are what?
Hydrophilic. (Which means they easily dissolve in water.)
Examples of hydrophilic solutes
Sugar and Salt
Molecules that contain mainly non-polar covalent bonds are what?
Hydrophobic
Examples of hydrophobic compounds
Animal fats and Vegetable oil
Why is the ability of water to form solutions essential to health and survival?
Because water can dissolve many substances, it is an ideal medium for metabolic reactions.
Water as a solvent enables ______.
Dissolved reactants to collide and form products.
Dissolves waste products.
Decomposition reactions break down large nutrient molecules into smaller molecules.
“To loosen or break apart”
A type of reaction that enables dietary nutrients to be absorbed into the body.
Hydrolysis
A product that is formed during dehydration synthesis reaction
Water Molecule
What does it mean that water has a high heat capacity?
Because it can absorb or release a relatively large amount of heat with only a modest change in it’s own temperature.
Why does water have a high heat capacity?
Large number of hydrogen bonds.
Water is a major component of _____ and other _______ throughout the body.
Mucus, Lubricating fluids
Where is lubrication especially necessary inside the body?
Chest (Pleural and Pericardial Cavities)
Abdomen (Peritoneal Cavity)
Why is lubrication especially necessary in the chest, abdomen, and joints?
Because this is where internal organs touch and slide over one another, and where bones, ligaments, and tendons rub against one another (joints)
When inorganic acids, bases, or salts dissolve in water, they what?
Dissociate
The separation of acids, bases, or salts into ions and become surrounded by water molecules.
Dissociate
Acid dissociates into what?
One or more hydrogen ions (H+)
One or more anions
What is acid also referred as?
A proton donor
Why is acid also referred to as a proton donor?
Because H+ is a single proton with one positive charge.
What is a base also referred to as?
A proton acceptor