AP Biology: The Properties of Water Essay

pee has many a(prenominal) unique properties that make aliveness possible on reality. One property is cohesion. The cohesion property is decently defined as the binding of irrigate molecules by heat content bonds. irrigate has this property as a yield of the chemical bonding amidst piddle supply supply. Cohesion of the strong henry bonds allows the water molecules to stick together, almost as a unit of mavin. A force exerted on one of the molecules impart be exerted on all of the adjacent molecules as a result of cohesion. Cohesion, often with the cooperation of adhesion, the clinging of one substance to an other(a), adds to the function and ability of water to quash strong natural forces, such as gravitational force. When water is in its eloquent state of matter, the hydrogen bonds are truly frail and weak, about one-twentieth as strong as covalent bonds. The bonds are made, broken, and remade very quickly.Each hydrogen bond lasts only a few trillionths of a seco nd, but the unceasing synthesis of new bonds with a succession of partners acquires equilibrium. Therefore, a significant office of all the water molecules are bonded to their neighbors, making water a to a greater extent orderly structured liquid than most other cognize liquids. A property related to cohesion is surface tension, a measure of how vexed it is to stretch or wear thin the surface of a liquid. wet is know to take over a greater surface tension than most other liquids.An ordered arrangement of hydrogen-bonded water molecules is present at the boundary amidst water and air. As a result water behaves as though it is coated with an invisible film along the surface. An example how the cohesion of water affects the functioning of living organisms is present in plants. Evaporation from the leaves in plants pulls water up from the roots. Cohesion due to hydrogen bonding helps hold the tower of water molecules together within the xylem vessels located in the stem or trun k of a plant. Adhesion helps the process by tolerateing the pull of gravity against the upward motion of the molecules.Another property of water is its solubility. Water is known as the universal solvent of life. Many substances can be feature with water to form a resoluteness, a homogeneous mixture between two substances. Water, in solutions, is known as the solvent. The substance or substances creation dissolved is known as the solute. An aqueous solution is when a undiversified mixture where water is the solvent is present. As found by the chivalric alchemists, water is the most soluble liquid. Although water is technically not universal, it is very versatile solvent. Waters solubility is a result of its polarity. Water is a polar molecule, meaning that the opposite ends of the molecule of opposite charges. In a water molecule, the polar covalent bonds allow the oxygen component part of the molecule to have a partial negative charge and the hydrogen regions to have a p artial positive charge. When bean crystals are place in water, they are ionized. The partially negative ion from the crystal bond to the hydrogen ions in water.The partially positive ion from the crystal bond to the oxygen ions in water. The sphere of water molecules around each dissolved ion is called a hydration shell. Water eventually dissolves all the ions. As a result, there is a solution containing two solutes from the salt homogeneously mixed with water, the versatile solvent. Aside from ionic compounds, water can also be a solvent for many polar molecules. An effect of the versatile solubility can be exhibit in the functioning of many liquid substances of living organisms, such as blood, the sap of plants, and the liquid contained in cells. Waters solubility allows for these liquids to have a universal concentration throughout the entire liquid, making the dispersal of the ions or molecules in the solution equal.Another property of water is its in superior up spirits particularized heat. The ability of water to stabilize temperatures in natural ecosystems is a result of its high specific heat. Specific heat is defined as the amount of heat that must be absorbed or bewildered for one gram of a substance to change its temperature by one degree Celsius. Waters specific heat is defined as one big(p) calorie per gram per degree Celsius. This information comes from the definition of a calorie, the amount of heat that causes one gram of water to change its temperature by one degree Celsius. Because of waters high specific heat, waters temperature will change less when it absorbs or loses a authentic amount of heat. Water resists changing its temperature, and when it happens to change it, it absorbs or loses a openhanded quantity of heat for each change in temperature. Waters specific heat is a direct result of hydrogen bonding. swelled amounts of heat must be absorbed in order to break the hydrogen bonds, and large amounts of heat are released w hen hydrogen bonds form.One calorie doesnt cause a large change in the temperature chiefly because most of the heat energy is used to disrupt the hydrogen bonds earlier the water molecules can start moving faster. When the temperature drops slightly, many hydrogen bonds form, release a large amount of heat energy. Waters high specific heat is directly related to life on Earth through climate. Bodies of water in coastal areas can store large amounts of heat during the day and release heat at night when cooling. The specific heat also stabilizes ocean temperatures, creating a more favorable surroundings for marine life. Therefore, as a result of waters high specific heat, the water on Earth keeps temperature changes on land and in water within life-permitting limits. Animals are also mostly made of water, allowing them to resist changes in their own temperatures. Water is so abundant and present in everyday life that its easy to neglect the fact that it is an olympian substan ce with many extraordinary qualities. Following the theme of emergent properties, waters unique behavior can be traced to the structure and interactions of its molecules.