Inorganic Ions and Molecules (Bio)

Ions

• Phosphate

  • Essential for energy transfer through ATP

  • Important component of nucleotides and nucleic acids, including DNA and RNA

• Iron

  • Crucial for oxygen transport in hemoglobin and myoglobin, playing a key role in cellular respiration.

• Hydrogen

  • Involved in regulating pH and protein structure

• Sodium

  • Involved in glucose and amino-acid transport in absorption

• Potassium

  • Essential for maintaining cellular function and nerve transmission.

Water

Water’s Significance of Life

High Surface Tension

• Habitats can form on the surface of the water, allowing organisms such as water striders to live and thrive in these unique ecological niches.

Strong Cohesive Properties / High Tensile Strength

• This enables water to pull itself into long columns in plant xylem, facilitating the transport of nutrients and water from roots to leaves.

Colourless with a High Transmission

• This property allows sunlight to penetrate water bodies, providing essential light for aquatic photosynthesis and supporting life in various ecosystems.

High Latent Heat of Vaporisation

• Can be used for cooling organisms by evaporation as it helps regulate body temperatures in many species, thereby enhancing their ability to survive in extreme environments.

• High Specific Heat Capacity

  • This characteristic helps stabilize temperature fluctuations in environments, allowing organisms to maintain homeostasis even during drastic temperature changes.

Solvent

• Due to its polar nature, water acts as a universal solvent, facilitating biochemical reactions by dissolving a wide range of ionic and polar substances essential for biological processes.

Metabolite in Metabolic Reactions

• Hydrolysis reactions are important in digestion of large molecules in animals

• Condensation reactions, on the other hand, play a crucial role in the synthesis of complex biomolecules by joining smaller units together, releasing water as a byproduct.