Water

• Properties of water

  • metabolite
  • good solvent
  • cohesion
  • high specific heat capacity
• water is a polar molecule
• Water has hydrogen bonding between molecules
• water is an important metabolite. it is used in hydrolysis reactions and photosynthesis and produced in condensation reactions and aerobic respiration.
• water is a good solvent as it is polar and the delta positive/negative charges will attract opposite ions and surround them

  
• water has a high latent heat of vaporisation as it takes a lot of energy to overcome the strong hydrogen bonds. This is useful to organisms as they can use water loss through evaporation to carry heat energy away from their surface without loosing too much water.
• water has a very high specific heat capacity so it can maintain a stable temperature which is useful within cells and makes a good habitat
• water molecules are very cohesive due to their polarity. this allows it to travel up the xylem. it also means it has a high surface tension when it comes into contact with air.