Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Starter: Write down any

properties of water you can
think of.

Water
Lesson objectives
2) Explain the importance of water
as a solvent in transport including
its dipole nature.

Our Water Planet

~1,260,000,000,000,000,000,000
litres

Polar Molecule

Made from 2H and O covalently bonded

together
Electrons are shared unevenly O attracts
electrons away from H causes polarity
It is dipolar in nature which gives water many
special properties

Hydrogen bonding

Different polar charges attract

+ H of one water molecule forms an
attraction with - O of another water molecule
Hydrogen bond weak interaction between slightly ve
charged atom and a slightly +ve charged hydrogen

Properties of water
Going to look at each of the follow
properties of water:
water as a solvent
heat capacity
latent heat of vaporisation
density
Cohesion & surface tension

Water as a solvent
Water is an excellent solvent for ionic (e.g. salt)
and some covalent substances (e.g. glucose)

Dissolving ionic substance

e.g. salt

H+ attracts the ve
anion (Cl-)
O - attracts the +ve
cation (Na+)
As the substance
gets spread out in
the water it
dissolves

Water as a solvent
Dissolving covalent substance
e.g. glucose
Glucose doesnt come
apart like salt.
-OH group is a dipole
H+ of water is
attracted to O - of
glucoses OH group
O - of water is
attracted to H+ of
glucoses OH group
This separates

Importance of water as a
solvent
Metabolic reactions normally take
place in solution molecules & ions
need to be free to move.
Enables transportation of substances
e.g. blood plasma is mainly water
Enables osmotic effect

Thermal Properties
Individual hydrogen bonds are weak but
collectively they make water very stable.

Specific Heat Capacity

The amount of heat required to raise the
temperature of 1Kg of liquid by 1 oC.
This is high in water
Also means a lot of energy can be lost
before the temperature drops.
Specific heat capacity of water is 4.2KJ Kg-1
oC-1
Why do you think this
is useful in a biological
sense?
Water provides very
constant temperatures
in aquatic

Latent heat of
vaporisation

Amount of heat energy required to vaporise

a liquid (liquid gas)
Very high in water due to hydrogen
bonding.
Why do you think this is useful in a
biological sense?
A lot of energy can be lost during sweating
or panting with minimal water loss.

Water Density

Water is at its densest at 4oC.

Below this temperature the density of water decreases.
Therefore water below 4oC will rise to the top ice
floats
Why do you think this is useful in a biological sense?

Water density
Surface ice acts as an insulator,
allowing aquatic organisms to
live in the water below
The temperature gradient
within the water column causes
circulation of nutrients (e.g. O2)

Cohesion & surface

tension
Cohesion is a force where molecules stick together.

As a result of cohesion at the surface of a liquid a

force called surface tension exists.
Water has the highest surface tension of any liquid
Why do you think this is useful in a biological sense?

 This allows
the translocation of water in the xylem
Small organisms can skate over water.

And finally...
dipola
A water molecule is ___________
because it
has a positive and a rnegative pole as a
electrons
result of the uneven distribution
of
___________ within it. This creates attractive
forces
called ______________ between water
hydrogen
molecules,
causing them to stick together.
bonds
This stickiness, otherwise
called _________,
cohesio
of water means n
that its molecules are
pulled inward surface
at its surface. This force is
called _____________.
is the raw
tension Water
photosynthe
material for the process of _____________ in
sis
lubricant
green plants and acts as
a __________ in
the synovial joints of animals.

Homework
Using todays notes and further
research, write an essay on the
biological importance of water.
There are other things which I havent
included!