Properties of Water

Properties of Water
• Polar molecule
• Cohesion and adhesion
• High specific heat
• Density – greatest at
4o C
• Universal solvent of life
 Polarity of Water
• In a water molecule two hydrogen atoms form
single polar covalent bonds with an oxygen atom.
Gives water more structure than other liquids
– Because oxygen is more electronegative, the region
around oxygen has a partial negative charge.
– The region near the two hydrogen atoms has a partial
positive charge.
• A water molecule is a polar molecule with opposite
ends of the molecule with opposite charges.
• Water has a variety of unusual properties
because of attractions between these polar
molecules.
– The slightly negative regions of one molecule are
attracted to the slightly positive regions of nearby
molecules, forming a hydrogen bond.
– Each water molecule
can form hydrogen
bonds with up to
four neighbors. Fig. 3.1
Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings
 HYDROGEN BONDS
• Hold water molecules • Extraordinary Properties that are
together a result of hydrogen bonds.
• Each water molecule can – Cohesive behavior
form a maximum of 4 – Resists changes in temperature
hydrogen bonds – High heat of vaporization
• The hydrogen bonds joining – Expands when it freezes
water molecules are weak, – Versatile solvent
about 1/20th as strong as
covalent bonds.
• They form, break, and
reform with great frequency
 Organisms Depend on Cohesion
Hydrogen bonds hold the substance
together, a phenomenon called cohesion
• Cohesion is responsible for the
transport of the water column in plants
• Cohesion among water molecules plays
a key role in the transport of water
against gravity in plants
• Adhesion, clinging of one substance to
another, contributes too, as water
adheres
to the wall of the vessels.
• Surface tension, a measure of the force necessary to stretch or
break the surface of a liquid, is related to cohesion.
– Water has a greater surface tension than most other liquids
because hydrogen bonds among surface water molecules
resist stretching or breaking the surface.
– Water behaves as if
covered by an invisible
film.
– Some animals can stand,
walk, or run on water
without breaking the
surface.
Fig. 3.3
Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings
 Moderates Temperatures on Earth
Water stabilizes air temperatures by absorbing heat from
warmer air and releasing heat to cooler air.
Water can absorb or release relatively large amounts of heat
with only a slight change in its own temperature.
Celsius Scale at Sea Level • What is kinetic energy?
100oC Water boils • Heat?
• Temperature?
37oC Human body temperature
• Calorie?
 
23oC Room temperature • What is the difference in cal
and Cal?
0oC Water freezes • What is specific heat?
 Specific Heat is the amount of heat that must be
absorbed or lost for one gram of a substance to
change its temperature by 1oC.
Three-fourths of the earth is covered by
water. The water serves as a large heat
sink responsible for:
1. Prevention of temperature fluctuations
that are outside the range suitable for
life.
2. Coastal areas having a mild climate
3. A stable marine environment
Evaporative Cooling
• The cooling of a surface
occurs when the liquid
evaporates
• This is responsible for:
– Moderating earth’s
climate
– Stabilizes temperature
in aquatic ecosystems
– Preventing organisms
from overheating
 Density of Water
• Most dense at 4oC
• Contracts until 4oC
• Expands from 4oC to 0oC

The density of water:

1. Prevents water from freezing from the bottom up.
2. Ice forms on the surface first—the freezing of the water
releases heat to the water below creating insulation.
3. Makes transition between season less abrupt.
 – When water reaches 0oC, water becomes locked into a
crystalline lattice with each molecule bonded to to the
maximum of four partners.
– As ice starts to melt, some of the hydrogen bonds break and
some water molecules can slip closer together than they can
while in the ice state.
– Ice is about 10% less dense than water at 4 oC.

Fig. 3.5
Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings
 Solvent for Life
• Solution
– Solute
– Solvent
• Aqueous solution
• Hydrophilic
– Ionic compounds dissolve
in water
– Polar molecules (generally)
are water soluble
• Hydrophobic
– Nonpolar compounds
 Most biochemical reactions
involve solutes dissolved in water.
• There are two important
quantitative proprieties of aqueous
solutions.
– 1. Concentration
– 2. pH
 Concentration of a Solution
• Molecular weight – sum of the weights
of all atoms in a molecule (daltons)
• Mole – amount of a substance that has
a mass in grams numerically
equivalent to its molecular weight in
daltons.
• Avogadro’s number – 6.02 X 1023
– A mole of one substance has the same
number of molecules as a mole of any other
substance.
 Molarity
The concentration of a material in solution is called its molarity.

A one molar solution has one mole of a substance dissolved

in one liter of solvent, typically water.
Calculate a one molar solution of sucrose, C12H22O16.
C = 12 daltons 12 x12 = 144
For a 2M solution?
H = 1 dalton 1 x 22 = 22 For a .05 M solution?
O = 16 daltons 16 x 11 = 176 For a .2 M solution?
342
 Dissociation of Water Molecules
• Occasionally, a hydrogen atom shared by two water
molecules shifts from one molecule to the other.
– The hydrogen atom leaves its electron behind and is
transferred as a single proton - a hydrogen ion (H+).
– The water molecule that lost a proton is now a hydroxide ion
(OH-).
– The water molecule with
the extra proton
is a hydronium
ion (H3O+). Unnumbered Fig. 3.47
Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings
• A simpler way to view this process is that a water molecule
dissociates into a hydrogen ion and a hydroxide ion:
– H2O <=> H+ + OH-
• This reaction is reversible.
• At equilibrium the concentration of water molecules
greatly exceeds that of H+ and OH-.
• In pure water only one water molecule in every 554 million
is dissociated.
– At equilibrium, the concentration of H+ or OH- is 10-7M
(25°C) .
 Acids and Bases
• An acid is a substance that increases the
hydrogen ion concentration in a solution.
• Any substance that reduces the hydrogen
ion concentration in a solution is a base.
– Some bases reduce H+ directly by
accepting hydrogen ions.
• Strong acids and bases complete
dissociate in water.
• Weak acids and bases dissociate only
partially and reversibly.
 pH Scale
• The pH scale in any aqueous solution :
– [ H+ ] [OH-] = 10-14
• Measures the degree of acidity (0 – 14)
• Most biologic fluids are in the pH range from 6 – 8
• Each pH unit represents a tenfold difference (scale is
logarithmic)
– A small change in pH actually indicates a substantial
change in H+ and OH- concentrations.
 Problem
How much greater is the [ H+ ] in a
solution with pH 2 than in a solution with
pH 6?
Answer:
pH of 2 = [ H+ ] of 1.0 x 10-2 = 1/100 M
pH of 6 = [ H+ ] of 1.0 x 10-6 = 1/1,000,000 M
10,000 times greater
 Buffers
• A substance that eliminates large sudden changes in
pH.
• Buffers help organisms maintain the pH of body fluids
within the narrow range necessary for life.
– Are combinations of H+ acceptors and donors forms
in a solution of weak acids or bases
– Work by accepting H+ from solutions when they are
in excess and by donating H+ when they have been
depleted.
 Acid Precipitation
• Rain, snow or fog with more strongly acidic than pH of 5.6
• West Virginia has recorded 1.5
• East Tennessee reported 4.2 in 2000
• Occurs when sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides react with water in
the atmosphere
– Lowers pH of soil which affects mineral solubility – decline
of forests
– Lower pH of lakes and ponds – In the Western Adirondack
Mountains, there are lakes with a pH <5 that have no fish.