Give details about water being an important METABOLITE?
Many metabolic reactions involve a condensation or hydrolysis reaction
A hydrolysis reaction requires a molecule of water to break a bond
A condensation reaction releases a molecule of water as a new bond is formed
why is it a property of water that it has a HIGH LATENT HEAT OF VAPORISATION?
It takes lots of energy/heat to break the hydrogen bonds between water molecules
So water has a HIGH LHOV - lots of energy is USED UP WHEN WATER EVAPORATES
why is it useful that water has a high latent heat of vaporisation?
useful for living organisms because it means they can use water loss through evaporation to cool down (eg sweating - humans) without using too much water