Water

Question 1

Why is water important?

Answer 1

Water is a major component of cells and living organisms

Question 2

Biologically important property of water? 1

Answer 2

Water is a metabolite in many metabolic reactions, including condensation and hydrolysis reactions

Question 3

Biologically important property of water? 2

Answer 3

Water is an important solvent in which metabolic reactions occur

Question 4

Biologically important property of water? 3

Answer 4

Water has a relatively high heat capacity, buffering changes in temperature

Question 5

Biologically important property of water? 4

Answer 5

Water has a relatively large latent heat of vaporisation, providing a cooling effect with little loss of water through evaporation

Question 6

Biologically important property of water? 5

Answer 6

Water has strong cohesion between water molecules; this supports columns of water in the tube-like transport cells of plants and produces surface tension where water meets air.

Question 7

What does it mean that waters polar?

Answer 7

Water is a “polar” molecule, meaning that there is an uneven distribution of electron density. Water has a partial negative charge near the oxygen atom due to the unshared pairs of electrons, and partial positive charges near the hydrogen atoms.

Question 8

What is a polar bond?

Answer 8

A polar bond is when a bond is formed between two atoms that share electrons unequally

Question 9

What is a non-polar bond?

Answer 9

A non-polar bond is when electrons are shared equally across all atoms in a molecule