PROPERTIES OF WATER AND

ITS IMPORTANT
 Learning Outcomes

At the end of this session, you should be able to

describe structure of water molecule and explain its
importance.
 Two molecules of water joined
Electrons shared unequally together by hydrogen bond.
Formed between any 2 atoms
that are unalike

Covalent bond form when

atoms share electrons.

Hydrogen bond form when an

already covalently bonded
hydrogen atom links with an
One molecule of water has two electronegative atom.
hydrogen atoms covalently bonded
to a single oxygen atom.
 POLAR
HYDROGEN
WATER
= COVALENT
BOND
+ BOND

Solid lines = covalent bond

Dotted lines = hydrogen bond

Because water is a "polar" molecule, it has a partial negative charge (Delta-, δ-)
near the oxygen and partial positive charges (Delta+. δ+) near the hydrogen atoms.
 PROPERTIES OF WATER ATTRIBUTED
TO HYDROGEN BONDING

Because of its polar covalent bonds, water can form hydrogen bonds with itself
and with other polar molecules.

Adhesion Cohesion

High heat of High specific

vaporization heat

Ice is less dense than

Solubility
liquid
 Adhesion Cohesion

Cohesion and adhesion. Water molecules have cohesive forces that make them
stick to each other and adhesive forces that make them stick to other objects such
as glass. Benefit to life: leaves pull water upward from the roots.
 BENEFIT TO LIFE
evaporation in leaf

uptake across root

Transport of water in plant. Hydrogen bonds allow (1) adhesion between water
molecules and cellulose xylem wall and (2) cohesion between water molecules in
xylem.
 High heat of
vaporization

High heat of vaporization. The quantity of heat that a liquid must absorb for 1 g of it
to be converted from the liquid to the gaseous state. This is because hydrogen
bonds must be broken before a water molecule can evaporate from the liquid.
Benefit to life: Evaporation of water cools body surface
 BENEFIT TO LIFE

When humans sweat, heat released by the body is used to break the hydrogen
bonds holding the water molecules together. As these bonds are broken, water
evaporates and body temperature is decreased due to the loss of heat energy. As a
result, evaporation of sweat significantly cools the body surface.
 High specific
heat

High specific heat is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of
one gram of a substance by one degree celsius. It takes more energy to heat
the water one degree than it does for ethyl alcohol. Benefit to life: water
stabilizes the temperature of organisms and the environment
 BENEFIT TO LIFE

Land breeze. At night, heat is lost from the land and sea. Sea has a larger
specific heat capacity so that sea is hotter than land. Hot air above the sea
rises and cooler air from the land moves towards the sea as land breeze.
 Ice is less dense
than liquid

Ice is less dense than liquid. Water molecules in an ice crystal are spaced
relatively far apart because of hydrogen bonding. Benefit to life: because ice is
less dense than water, lakes do not freeze solid, allowing fish and other life in
lakes to survive the winter.
 BENEFIT TO LIFE

If ice did not float on water, it would sink, and ponds, lakes, and perhaps
even the ocean, would freeze solid. In a pond, the ice protects the protists,
plants, and animals so that they can survive the winter
 Solubility

Solubility. Polar water molecules are attracted to ions and polar compounds, making these
compounds soluble. When placed in water, the ionic bonds holding salt (Na+Cl-) together are
broken as the positive-charged hydrogens (H+) begin to interact with the negative-charged
chlorines (Cl-) and the negative charged oxygen (O) interacts with the positive charged
sodium (Na+). Benefit to life: Many kinds of molecules can move freely in cells, permitting a
diverse array of chemical reactions.