Water
- Created by: jessicawarren
- Created on: 04-04-16 21:07
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- Water
- Functions
- Metabolite in condensation/hydrolysis reactions.
- Solvent- important because most metabolic reactions take place in solution.
- Temperature control- high latent heat of vaporisation, high specific heat capacity
- Cohesive- helps water transport in plants
- Structure
- One atom of oxygen joined to two atoms of hydrogen by shared electrons
- H atom has slight positive charge- shared negative H electrons pulled towards oxygen atom
- Oxygen atom has slight negative charge- unshared negative electron
- Polar- partial negative charge on one side, partial positive on other
- Properties
- Metabolite: required in hydrolysis/condensation.
- High latent heat of vaporisation: takes a lot of energy to break H bonds, living organisms can lose heat by evaporation and prevent water loss
- Resists changes in temperature- H bonds can absorb lots of energy, helps organisms who live in water maintain constant internal body temp,
- Good solvent: Polar, positive end attracted to negative ion, negative end attracted to positive ion, ions totally surrounded by water molecules.
- Cohesive- easy flowing, good transporter, travel up columns of xylem, high surface tension, forms droplets easily which evaporate
- Functions
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