Chapter 3: Water and Life

Notes

Water is in liquid form, water is also present on Earth as a solid (ice) and as a gas (water vapor).

Water is the only common substance to exist in the natural environment n all three physical

states of matter.

Polar Covalent Bond: A covalent bond between atoms that differ in electronegativity. The shared

electrons are pulled closer to the more electronegative atom, making it slightly negative and the

other atom slightly positive.

It is shaped like a wide V, with its two hydrogen atoms joined to the oxygen atom by single

covalent bonds. Oxygen is more electronegative than hydrogen, so the electrons of the covalent

bonds spend more time closer to oxygen than to hydrogen.

Polar Molecule: A molecule (such as water) with an uneven distribution of charges in different

regions of the molecule.

Oxygen region of the molecule has a partial negative charge.

Hydrogen has a partial positive charge.

Held together by a hydrogen bond.

The hydrogen bonds form, break, and reform with great frequency

4 emergent properties of water:

Cohesive behavior

Ability to moderate temperature

Expansion upon freezing

Versatility as solvent

Cohesion: The linkage together of like molecules, often by hydrogen bonds.

Hydrogen bonds hold the substance together, a phenomenon called cohesion.

Adhesion: The clinging of one substance to another, such as water to a plant cell walls by means

of hydrogen bonds.

Surface tension: A measure of how difficult it is to stretch or break the surface of a liquid. Water

has a high surface tension because of the hydrogen bonding of surface molecules.

Kinetic Energy: The energy associated with the relative motion of objects. Moving matter can

perform work by imparting motion to other matter.

Anything that moves has kinetic energy, the energy of motion.

The faster a molecule moves, the greater its kinetic energy. The kinetic energy associated with

the random movement of atoms or molecules is called thermal energy.

Thermal Energy: Kinetic energy due to the random motion of atoms and molecules; energy in its

most random form.

Temperature is a measurement of energy that represents the average kinetic energy of the

molecules in a body of matter, regardless of volume, whereas the total thermal energy depends in

part on the matter’s volume.

Heat: Thermal energy in transfer from one body of matter to another.

Calorie: The amount of heat energy required to raise the temperature of 1 g of water by 1

Celsius; also the amount of heat energy that 1g of water releases when it cools by 1 Celsius. The

calorie (with a capital C), usually used to indicate the energy content of food, is a kilocalorie.

Kilocalorie: A thousand calories; the amount of heat energy required to raised the temperature of

1kg of water by 1 degree Celsius.

Joule (J): A unit of energy: 1 J= 0.239 cal; 1 cal= 4.184 J.

Specific Heat: The amount of heat that must be absorbed or lost for 1g of a substance to change

its temperature by 1 degree Celsius.

The specific heat of water is 1 calorie per gram and per degree of Celsius ( 1cal/g x C)

Specific heat can be thought of as a measurement of how well a substance resists changing its

temperature when it absorbs or releases heat.

Heat must be absorbed in order to break hydrogen bonds, heat is released when hydrogen bonds

form.

Molecules moving fast enough to overcome these attractions can depart the liquid and enter the

air as a gas (vapor). This transformation from a liquid to a gas is called vaporization or

evaporation.

Heat of Vaporization: The quantity of heat a liquid must absorb for 1 g of it to be converted from

the liquid to the gaseous state.

Evaporative Cooling: The process in which the surface of an object become cooler during

evaporation, a result of the molecules with the greatest kinetic energy changing from liquid to the

gaseous state.

Solution: A liquid that is a homogeneous mixture of two or more substances.

Solvent: The dissolving agent of a solution. Water is the most versatile solvent known.

Solute: A substance that is dissolve in a solution.

Aqueous Solution: A solution in which water is the solvent.

Hydration Shell: The sphere of water molecules around a dissolved ion.

Hydrophilic: Having an affinity for water.

Hydrophobic: Having no affinity for water, tending to coalesce and form droplets in water.
Molecular mass: The sum of the masses of all the atoms in a molecule; sometimes called

molecular weight.

Mole (mol): The number of grams of a substance that equals its molecular or atomic mass in

Dalton; a mole contains Avogardro’s number of the molecules or atoms in question.

Molarity: A common measure of solute concentration, referring to the number of moles of solute

per liter of solution.

Hydrogen Ion: A single proton with a charge of 1+. The dissociation of a water molecule (H2O)

leads to the generation of a hydroxide ion (OH-) and a hydrogen ion (H+); in water, H+, is not

found alone but associated with a water molecule to form a hydronium ion.

Acid: A substance that increases the hydrogen ion concentration of a solution.

Base: A substance that reduces the hydrogen ion concentration of a solution.

Solutions with a higher concentration of OH- than H+ are known as basic solutions.

Solution in which the H+ and OH- concentrations are equal is said to be neutral.

The double arrows in the reaction for ammonia that the binding and release of hydrogen ions are

reversible reactions.

Weak acids are acids that reversibly release and accept back hydrogen ions.

PH: A measurement of hydrogen ion concentration equal to –log [H+] and ranging in value from

0 to 14 (0 is most acid, 14 is most base).

Buffer: A solution that contains a weak acid and its corresponding base. A buffer minimizes

changes in pH when acids or bases are added to the solution.

Ocean Acidification: Decreasing pH of ocean waters due to absorption of excess atmospheric

CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels.