Water

• What percentage of a cell's contents is water?

  About 80%
• Why is water considered a metabolite?

  It is involved in important metabolic reactions
• What role does water play in metabolic reactions?

  It participates in condensation and hydrolysis reactions
• What is a solvent?

  A substance that dissolves other substances
• Why is water essential for metabolic reactions?

  Most reactions occur in solution, requiring water
• How does water help with temperature control?

  It has high latent heat of vaporisation and specific heat capacity
• What property of water aids in its transport in plants?

  Cohesion
• What is the structure of a water molecule?

  One oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms
• What makes water a polar molecule?

  It has slight positive and negative charges
• What type of bond forms between water molecules?

  Hydrogen bonds
• What is the significance of hydrogen bonding in water?

  It gives water useful properties
• What are the useful properties of water?

  • Important metabolite
  • Good solvent
  • High latent heat of vaporisation
  • High specific heat capacity
  • Very cohesive
• What is a hydrolysis reaction?

  A reaction that requires water to break a bond
• What is a condensation reaction?

  A reaction that releases water when forming a bond
• How does water act as a good solvent?

  It surrounds and dissolves ionic substances
• What happens when water evaporates?

  It carries away heat energy from a surface
• What is the high latent heat of vaporisation of water useful for?

  Cooling organisms without losing too much water
• What does high specific heat capacity mean for water?

  It resists rapid temperature changes
• Why is stable temperature important for organisms?

  It helps maintain a constant internal body temperature
• What is cohesion in water molecules?

  The attraction between molecules of the same type
• How does cohesion benefit water transport in plants?

  It helps water flow in columns up the xylem
• What is surface tension in water?

  The high cohesion of water at its surface
• Why can some insects walk on water surfaces?

  Due to high surface tension from cohesion