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Biology AS CIE

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  1. 1-cell-structure
    10 主题
  2. 2-biological-molecules
    19 主题
  3. 3-enzymes
    13 主题
  4. 4-cell-membranes-and-transport
    16 主题
  5. 5-the-mitotic-cell-cycle
    8 主题
  6. 6-nucleic-acids-and-protein-synthesis
    9 主题
  7. 7-transport-in-plants
    11 主题
  8. 8-transport-in-mammals
    16 主题
  9. 9-gas-exchange
    6 主题
  10. 10-infectious-diseases
    6 主题
  11. 11-immunity
    10 主题
课 2, 主题 2
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2-4-water AS the-role-of-water-in-living-organisms

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Exam code:9700

Water molecules: in living organisms

  • Water has many essential roles in living organisms due to its properties:

    • The polarity of water molecules

    • The presence and number of hydrogen bonds between water molecules

Solvent

  • As water is a polar molecule many ionic compounds (e.g. sodium chloride) and covalently bonded polar substances (e.g. glucose) will dissolve in it

    • This allows chemical reactions to occur within cells (as the dissolved solutes are more chemically reactive when they are free to move about)

    • Metabolites can be transported efficiently (except non-polar molecules which are hydrophobic)

Diagram illustrating polar molecules, hydrophobic non-polar regions and a hydroxyl group, with Na+ and Cl- ions surrounded by water molecules.
Due to its polarity water is considered a universal solvent

High specific heat capacity

  • The specific heat capacity of a substance is the amount of thermal energy required to raise the temperature of 1kg of that substance by 1°C. Water’s specific heat capacity is 4200 J/kg°C

  • The high specific heat capacity is due to the many hydrogen bonds present in water

    • It takes a lot of thermal energy to break these bonds and a lot of energy to create them, thus the temperature of water does not fluctuate greatly

  • The advantage for living organisms is that it:

    • Provides suitable habitats

    • Allows for constant temperatures within bodies and cells to be maintained (this ensures enzymes have the optimal temperatures)

      • This is because a large increase in energy is needed to increase the temperature of water

Latent heat of vaporisation

  • In order to change state (from liquid to gas) a large amount of thermal energy must be absorbed by water to break the hydrogen bonds and evaporate

  • This is an advantage for living organisms as only a little water is required to evaporate from the surface of the organism in order to lose a great amount of heat energy

  • This provides a cooling effect for living organisms, for example the transpiration from leaves or evaporation of water in sweat from the skin

Property

Role in Living Organisms

Reason

Solvent

Allows chemical reactions to occur

Transport medium

Polarity of water

High specific heat capacity

Allows water to be a suitable habitat

Optimal temperature maintained within cells and bodies

Presence of many hydrogen bonds

High latent heat of vaporisation

Coolant

Presence of many hydrogen bonds

Examiner Tips and Tricks

When discussing the role water has in living organisms remember to mention the ‘why’ in relation to its properties (i.e. it is an excellent solvent because of to the polar nature of water molecules).

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