Water

• • Water is a metabolite in loads of important metabolic reactions, including condensation and hydrolysis reactions
  • Water is a solvent, which means substances dissolve in it. Most metabolic reactions take place in solution so water's pretty essential
  • Water helps with a temperature control because it has a high latent heat of vaporisation and a high specific heat capacity
  • Water molecules are very cohesive, which helps water transport in plants as well as transport in other organisms
• A molecule of water is one atom of oxygen joined to two atoms of hydrogen by shared electrons

  Because the shared negative hydrogen electrons are pulled towards the oxygen atom, the other side of each hydrogen atom is left with a slight positive charge. The unshared negative electrons on the oxygen atom give it a slight negative charge.

  This makes water a polar molecule due to the uneven distribution of charge