Water and Life

Flashcards reviewing the properties and importance of water for life.

Medium for Life

Water is essential for life as it acts as a solvent for metabolic reactions within cells, facilitates transport into and out of cells, and is a crucial component of blood and other bodily fluids.

Polar Covalent Bond

The type of bond within a water molecule where oxygen attracts electrons more strongly than hydrogen, resulting in a slightly negative charge on the oxygen and slightly positive charges on the hydrogens.

Cohesion

The attraction between water molecules due to hydrogen bonds, responsible for surface tension.

Surface Tension

The phenomenon arising from the cohesive forces between water molecules at the surface, allowing some organisms to live on water surfaces.

Adhesion

The attraction between unlike molecules due to hydrogen bonds which helps with capillary action.

Capillary Action

The movement of water through narrow spaces due to the combined forces of surface tension, cohesion, and adhesion (e.g. water moving up from soil to plant roots).

Transpiration

Loss of water vapor from plants where evaporation causes low pressure and pulling of water in vessels.

Solvent

A liquid substance capable of dissolving or dispersing one or more other substances.

Solute

A substance that is dissolved in a solution.

Hydrophilic

Molecules that dissolve easily in water due to their polarity (e.g. glucose, ions, amino acids, & proteins).

Hydrophobic

Molecules that do not dissolve in water and are insoluble (e.g. steroid hormones, lipids).

Buoyancy

An upward force exerted on an object placed in a medium such as water.

Viscosity

Resistance to an object moving through a liquid or gas.

Thermal Conductivity

The ability of a substance to transfer heat.

Specific Heat Capacity

The ability of a substance to absorb or give off heat without changing temperature.

Goldilocks Zone

The habitable zone around a star where a planet's temperature allows for liquid water to exist, making it potentially habitable.