1 / 18

Water : A Molecule Essential for Life

Water : A Molecule Essential for Life. Thoughts to Ponder……. Why can’t we survive more than a week without water? How do insects walk on water? How does water rise up 300 feet from the roots of a redwood tree? Why does water take so long to boil? Why do oil and water not mix? .

leora
Download Presentation

Water : A Molecule Essential for Life

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Water : A Molecule Essential for Life

  2. Thoughts to Ponder…… • Why can’t we survive more than a week without water? • How do insects walk on water? • How does water rise up 300 feet from the roots of a redwood tree? • Why does water take so long to boil? • Why do oil and water not mix?

  3. Life is dependent on Water Why? Source: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/photogallery-earth.html

  4. Water has unique properties that arise from its structure http://www.lenntech.com/images/Water%20molecule.jpg

  5. Water is a Polar Molecule http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Sect20/water_molecules_con_c_la_784.jpg

  6. Hydrogen Bond Formation http://www.biology.arizona.edu/biochemistry/tutorials/chemistry/page3.html

  7. Strength in Numbers! • Water molecules, with the hydrogen bonds represented by the dotted lines Source: www.personal.psu.edu/.../ bonddiagram.gif.

  8. Properties of Water due to Hydrogen Bonding • Cohesion / Surface Tension • Adhesion • High heat capacity • Solvent of polar and ionic compounds; creates a hydrophobic effect on nonpolar substances • Density of ice less than liquid water

  9. Cohesion Water molecules “stick” together Creates surface tension

  10. Adhesion Water molecules are attracted to different molecules Capillarity – a special case that results from the relative attraction of the molecules for each other and the solid surface it’s in contact with

  11. High Heat capacity A great deal of E is needed to break hydrogen bonds Temperature changes are minimized http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01549/perspiration_1549996c.jpg

  12. Specific Heat Specific heat – amount of heat needed to change the temperature of 1g. of a substance 1degree Celsius. High specific heat allows water to act as a heat sink. Water will retain its temperature after absorbing large amounts of heat, and retain its temperature after losing equally large amounts of heat.

  13. Universal Solvent The “Great Dissolver” Water dissolves polar and ionic substances due to its ability to form hydrogen bonds

  14. Hydrophobic effect on Nonpolarsubstances Water cannot dissolve nonpolar substances. Hydrophobic effect- results when water molecules interact with each other and exclude nonpolar substances Causes molecules like DNA to fold into their specific shapes

  15. Density Ice is less dense then water - it floats Ponds, lakes, streams, ocean surfaces freeze from the top down. Aquatic organisms receive insulating protection

  16. Vaporization Large amounts of heat E are needed to disrupt hydrogen bonds. Heat helps water to begin evaporating. Sweat evaporates using the heat from your body…cools your body down!

  17. Now that you know the properties of water, what other ways can you think that it supports life?

  18. Imagine how life on Earth would change if hydrogen bonding between water molecules no longer could form

More Related