A1.1 Water Flashcards
What is an aqueous solution?
Water with substances dissolved in it. Sometimes called a “primeval soup” where the first living cells originated
What is a medium?
it is something where processes occur
What is the medium for life and why?
Water is the medium for life because the 8 processes of life happen in water so still is after 3 billion years of evolution
How do aqueous solutions aid metabolism
aqueous solutions are liquid so water and solutes dissolved in it are free to move and can react chemically. Reactants and products of most chemical reaction in living organisms are dissolved in water
What reactions take place in aqueous solutions?
Photosynthesis and digestion
What part of the cell is an aqueous solution?
cytoplasm - cells absorb water by osmosis to increase in size
How do aqueous solutions aid homeostasis
blood plasma and tissue fluid are aqueous solutions that are regulated to form a stable and ideal internal environment
What is a molecule
A molecule is 2 or more atoms joined together by one or more covalent bonds
How are covalent bonds formed?
When 2 or more atoms share a pair of electrons
How does a covalent bond bond become polar?
When the nucleus of one of the atoms is more attractive to the electrons than the other, so the electrons aren’t shared equally. One atom has a slight positive charge and the other a slight negative charge
what are the bonds between between oxygen and hydrogen in called
intramolecular
how does a hydrogen bond form
formed between the positive pole of one water molecule and the negative pole of another water molecule. it is intermolecular
what influences the properties of water
hydrogen bonds
why does cohesion occur between water molecules
due to hydrogen bonds causing water molecules to stick together
