IMPORTANCE OF WATER AS A SOLVENT

Has life ever given you lemons? If so, you've no doubt followed the old adage and made
lemonade - involving, of course, a lot of sugar! If you've stirred sugar into lemonade (or tea, or
any other water-based drink) and watched it dissolve, then you've already seen the solvent
properties of water in action. A solvent is simply a substance that can dissolve other molecules
and compounds, which are known as solutes. A homogeneous mixture of solvent and solute is
called a solution, and much of life’s chemistry takes place in aqueous solutions, or solutions
with water as the solvent.
Because of its polarity and ability to form hydrogen bonds, water makes an excellent solvent,
meaning that it can dissolve many different kinds of molecules. Most of the chemical reactions
important to life take place in a watery environment inside of cells, and water's capacity to
dissolve a wide variety of molecules is key in allowing these chemical reactions to take place.

Solvent properties of water

Thanks to its ability to dissolve a wide range of solutes, water is sometimes called the "universal
solvent." However, this name isn't entirely accurate, since there are some substances (such as
oils) that don't dissolve well in water. Generally speaking, water is good at dissolving ions and
polar molecules, but poor at dissolving nonpolar molecules. (A polar molecule is one that's
neutral, or uncharged, but has an asymmetric internal distribution of charge, leading to partially
positive and partially negative regions.)
Water interacts differently with charged and polar substances than with nonpolar substances
because of the polarity of its own molecules. Water molecules are polar, with partial positive
charges on the hydrogens, a partial negative charge on the oxygen, and a bent overall structure.
The unequal charge distribution in a water molecule reflects the greater electronegativity, or
electron-greediness, of oxygen relative to hydrogen: the shared electrons of the O-H bonds
spend more time with the O atom than with the Hs. In the image below, the partial positive and
partial negative charges on a water molecule are represented by the symbols δ+^++start
superscript, plus, end superscript and δ−^-−start superscript, minus, end superscript,
respectively.
Because of its polarity, water can form electrostatic interactions (charge-based attractions) with
other polar molecules and ions. The polar molecules and ions interact with the partially positive
and partially negative ends of water, with positive charges attracting negative charges (just like
the + and - ends of magnets). When there are many water molecules relative to solute molecules,
as in an aqueous solution, these interactions lead to the formation of a three-dimensional sphere
of water molecules, or hydration shell, around the solute. Hydration shells allow particles to be
dispersed (spread out) evenly in water.
Water molecules forming hydration shells around Na+ and Cl- ions. The partially positive ends
of the water molecules are attracted to the negative Cl- ion, while the partially negative ends of
the water molecules are attracted to the positive Na+ ion.
Image modified from "Water: Figure 3," by OpenStax College, Biology (CC BY 3.0).
How does the formation of a hydration shell cause a solute to dissolve? As an example, let's
consider what happens to an ionic compound, such as table salt (NaCl), when it's added to
water.
If you stir table salt into water, the crystal lattice of NaCl will begin to dissociate into Na+^++start
superscript, plus, end superscript and Cl−^-−start superscript, minus, end superscript ions.
(Dissociation is just a name for the process in which a compound or molecule breaks apart to
form ions.) Water molecules form hydration shells around the ions: positively charged
Na+^++start superscript, plus, end superscript ions are surrounded by partial negative charges
from the oxygen ends of the water molecules, while negatively charged Cl−^-−start superscript,
minus, end superscript ions are surrounded by partial positive charges from the hydrogen ends.
As the process continues, all of the ions in the table salt crystals are surrounded by hydration
shells and dispersed in solution.
Nonpolar molecules, like fats and oils, don't interact with water or form hydration shells. These
molecules don't have regions of partial positive or partial negative charge, so they aren't
electrostatically attracted to water molecules. Thus, rather than dissolving, nonpolar substances
(such as oils) stay separate and form layers or droplets when added to water.

Cohesion of water

Have you ever filled a glass of water to the very top and then slowly added a few more drops?
Before it overflows, the water forms a dome-like shape above the rim of the glass. This dome-
like shape forms due to the water molecules’ cohesive properties, or their tendency to stick to
one another. Cohesion refers to the attraction of molecules for other molecules of the same
kind, and water molecules have strong cohesive forces thanks to their ability to form hydrogen
bonds with one another.
Cohesive forces are responsible for surface tension, a phenomenon that results in the tendency
of a liquid’s surface to resist rupture when placed under tension or stress. Water molecules at
the surface (at the water-air interface) will form hydrogen bonds with their neighbors, just like
water molecules deeper within the liquid. However, because they are exposed to air on one side,
they will have fewer neighboring water molecules to bond with, and will form stronger bonds with
the neighbors they do have. Surface tension causes water to form spherical droplets and allows
it to support small objects, like a scrap of paper or a needle, if they are placed carefully on its
surface.

Illustration of surface tension in a water droplet suspended in a spider's web. Water molecules
inside the center of the droplet have more neighboring water molecules to interact with than
water molecules at the surface. Thus, the water molecules at the surface form stronger
interactions with the neighbors they do have.
Image credit: "Properties of liquids: Figure 2," by OpenStax College (CC BY 4.0).

Adhesion of water

Water likes to stick to itself, but under certain circumstances, it actually prefers to stick to other
types of molecules. Adhesion is the attraction of molecules of one kind for molecules of a
different kind, and it can be quite strong for water, especially with other molecules bearing
positive or negative charges.
For instance, adhesion enables water to “climb” upwards through thin glass tubes (called
capillary tubes) placed in a beaker of water. This upward motion against gravity, known as
capillary action, depends on the attraction between water molecules and the glass walls of the
tube (adhesion), as well as on interactions between water molecules (cohesion).
The water molecules are more strongly attracted to the glass than they are to other water
molecules (because glass molecules are even more polar than water molecules). You can see
this by looking at the image below: the water extends highest where it contacts the edges of the
tube, and dips lowest in the middle. The curved surface formed by a liquid in a cylinder or tube
is called a meniscus.
Illustration of water ascending a small tube via capillary action. The thin tube is inserted into a
cup of water, and the water climbs up in the tube, reaching a higher level than it does in the cup.
Also, the water extends the highest close to the sides of the tube, and dips down in the middle
of the tube. This is because the water molecules are more strongly attracted to the sides of the
tube than to each other. The curved surface of the water in the capillary tube is called the
meniscus.
Image modified from "Water: Figure 5," by OpenStax College, Biology (CC BY 3.0). Modification
of original work by Pearson-Scott Foresman, donated to the Wikimedia Foundation.
Why are cohesive and adhesive forces important for life? They play a role in many water-based
processes in biology, including the movement of water to the tops of trees and the drainage of
tears from tear ducts in the corners of your eyes1^11start superscript, 1, end superscript. A
simple example of cohesion in action comes from the water strider (below), an insect that relies
on surface tension to stay afloat on the surface of water.

Image of a water strider bug walking on the surface of water. This is possible thanks to the
surface tension of the water.
Image credit: "Water: Figure 6, by OpenStax College, Biology (CC BY 3.0). Image by Tim
Vickers.

Water: Solid, liquid, and gas

Water has unique chemical characteristics in all three states—solid, liquid, and gas—thanks to
the ability of its molecules to hydrogen bond with one another. Since living things, from human
beings to bacteria, have a high water content, understanding the unique chemical features of
water in its three states is key to biology.
In liquid water, hydrogen bonds are constantly being formed and broken as the water molecules
slide past each other. The breaking of these bonds is caused by the energy of motion (kinetic
energy) of the water molecules due to the heat contained in the system.
When the heat is raised (for instance, as water is boiled), the higher kinetic energy of the water
molecules causes the hydrogen bonds to break completely and allows water molecules to
escape into the air as gas. We observe this gas as water vapor or steam.
On the other hand, when the temperature drops and water freezes, water molecules form a
crystal structure maintained by hydrogen bonding (as there is too little heat energy left to break
the hydrogen bonds). This structure makes ice less dense than liquid water.

Density of ice and water

Water’s lower density in its solid form is due to the way hydrogen bonds are oriented as it freezes.
Specifically, in ice, the water molecules are pushed farther apart than they are in liquid water.
That means water expands when it freezes. You may have seen this for yourself if you've ever
put a sealed glass container containing a mostly-watery food (soup, soda, etc.) into the freezer,
only to have it crack or explode as the liquid water inside froze and expanded.
With most other liquids, solidification—which occurs when the temperature drops and kinetic
(motion) energy of molecules is reduced—allows molecules to pack more tightly than in liquid
form, giving the solid a greater density than the liquid. Water is an anomaly (that is, a weird
standout) in its lower density as a solid.

(Left) Crystal structure of ice, with water molecules held in a regular 3D structure by hydrogen
bonds. (Right) Image of icebergs floating on the surface of the ocean.
Image: modified from OpenStax Biology. Modifications of work by Jane Whitney (left), image
created using Visual Molecular Dynamics (VMD) software (Humphrey, 1996), and by Carlos
Ponte (right).
Because it is less dense, ice floats on the surface of liquid water, as we see for an iceberg or
the ice cubes in a glass of iced tea. In lakes and ponds, a layer of ice forms on top of the liquid
water, creating an insulating barrier that protects the animals and plant life in the pond below
from freezing.
Why is it harmful for living things to freeze? We can understand this by thinking back to the case
of a bottle of soda pop cracking in the freezer. When a cell freezes, its watery contents expand
and its membrane (just like the soda bottle) is broken into pieces.

Heat capacity of water

It takes a lot of heat to increase the temperature of liquid water because some of the heat must
be used to break hydrogen bonds between the molecules. In other words, water has a high
specific heat capacity, which is defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature
of one gram of a substance by one degree Celsius. The amount of heat needed to raise the
temperature of 1 g of water by 1 °C has its own name, the calorie.

This calorie is similar to that one, but not exactly the same. The “food calorie” you see on the
back of a candy bar is actually a kilocalorie, or a thousand small calories.
Because of its high heat capacity, water can minimize changes in temperature. For instance, the
specific heat capacity of water is about five times greater than that of sand. The land cools faster
than the sea once the sun goes down, and the slow-cooling water can release heat to nearby
land during the night. Water is also used by warm-blooded animals to distribute heat through
their bodies: it acts similarly to a car’s cooling system, moving heat from warm places to cool
places, helping the body keep an even temperature.

Heat of vaporization of water

Just as it takes a lot of heat to increase the temperature of liquid water, it also takes an unusual
amount of heat to vaporize a given amount of water, because hydrogen bonds must be broken
in order for the molecules to fly off as gas. That is, water has a high heat of vaporization, the
amount of energy needed to change one gram of a liquid substance to a gas at constant
temperature.
Water’s heat of vaporization is around 540 cal/g at 100 °C, water's boiling point. Note that some
molecules of water – ones that happen to have high kinetic energy – will escape from the surface
of the water even at lower temperatures.
As water molecules evaporate, the surface they evaporate from gets cooler, a process called
evaporative cooling. This is because the molecules with the highest kinetic energy are lost to
evaporation. In humans and other organisms, the evaporation of sweat, which is about 99%
water, cools the body to maintain a steady temperature.

This article is a modified derivative of “Water,” by OpenStax College, Biology (CC BY 3.0). Download the
original article for free at http://cnx.org/contents/185cbf87-c72e-48f5-b51e-
f14f21b5eabd@9.85:7/Biology.
Taken from https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/water-acids-and-bases/water-as-a-solid-
liquid-and-gas/a/specific-heat-heat-of-vaporization-and-freezing-of-water. Reviewed February 5, 2020.
WORKSHOP
Part A: Summarize the lecture in a flowchart. Use the following online resource
(You have to connect using a gmail account) to make the diagram and send it to
gquinonez@colegionuevayork.edu.co.

Resource: https://online.visual-paradigm.com/drive/#diagramlist:proj=0&new

Part B: Solve the following worksheet. Send the answers ONLY in a word format
to gquinonez@colegionuevayork.edu.co
Source: “Why Follow the Water?” Mars Gamma Ray Spectrometer NASA

websitehttp://grs.lpl.arizona.edu/lessons/buried_water.html

A key NASA strategy to look for current or past life on Mars involves “following the water” –
looking for places where water currently or once existed on the planet. In this activity, we will
consider some of reasons why liquid water is important for life on Earth and may be important
for life on Mars. We will consider the properties of ease of evaporation, solubility, and
abundance.

Ease of Evaporation

Even though a liquid may not boil at room temperature, it can still evaporate depending upon
atmospheric conditions. If a liquid evaporates over the course of a few hours when set on a
countertop, it is easy to evaporate. If a liquid can remain on a countertop for several days
without evaporating, it is difficult to evaporate.

1) If you place a full cup of water out on a table in your classroom, will it start to boil? Why
or why not?

2) If you leave a full cup of water out on the table overnight, would you expect the level of
the water to increase, decrease, or stay the same by the next day? Explain your reasoning.

3) Now imagine that you leave three cups out on a table overnight. One is filled with water,
the second with rubbing alcohol, and the third with vegetable oil. They are all filled with the
same amount of liquid. How would you expect the levels of each liquid to change by the next
day? Which will evaporate the most? Explain your reasoning.

Solubility
 The solubility of a liquid describes how easy it is for another substance to dissolve in the
liquid. If you dissolve a solid in a liquid, the solid is called the solute and the liquid is called
the solvent.

4) Two students dissolve a spoonful of salt into a container of water. Which substance is the
solvent, and which is the solute?

5) Chocolate powder is soluble in milk. What does soluble mean?

6) Two students are preparing to do a solubility experiment. They carefully measure equal
amounts of three solvents (water, oil, and rubbing alcohol) into different containers. They are
now discussing ideas for testing the solubility of sugar in these liquids.

Student 1: I think we should put ten spoonsful of sugar into each cup. If the sugar is
soluble, the solvent should be able to dissolve all of it. After we stir up the liquid, we’ll see if the
sugar has disappeared.

Student 2: What if the solvent can dissolve one spoonful but not ten? If we dump
too much sugar in at once, we won’t know if the solvent could have dissolved a
smaller amount. I think we should add a spoonful of the sugar at a time.

Do you agree or disagree with either or both students? Explain your reasoning

7) Explain why sweating cools down the body.