Water

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Water

Causes

  • Hydrogen bonds are fairly strong (the strongest intermolecular force) and therefore require large amounts of energy to break, giving it a high latent heat of evaporation.
  • Water molecules are cohesive due to the hydrogen bonding.           .
  • Water molecules have high surface tension.                                     .
  • Water has a high specific heat capacity and requires a large amount of energy to change from liquid to gas.
  • Ice is less dense than water due to the hydrogen bonding, as they create a lattice like structure, spreading the molecules out more than in water.                                                                       .
  • Water is also a good solvent due to the polarity of the molecules.

Effects

  • Heat/energy is used when it evaporates form surfaces, reducing the surface temperature, which when used to cool down animals when sweating and panting.
  • Cohesion allows the transpiration stream in plants during transpiration and evaporation in the leaves.
  • This means that organisms such as the pond skater can 'walk on water'.
  • This means that water's temperature is fairly stable for organisms that live in water.
  • This means that water creates an insulating layer on large bodies of water and organisms that live in water are not affected by the low temperature.  Also, organisms such as polar bears can live on the surface.
  • This makes it good for transporting substances around the body, and for chemical reactions to take place within solution.

Overall summary

Water is has many functions in the human body and for organisms to live. It is possible to get a large mark question on this in the exam, including both causes and effects (probably with a QWC).

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