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Day-To-Day Mechanisms: The Biological Properties Of Water

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Water is a substance that is in great abundance on this planet and life almost certainly originated from it. It is required for multiple purposes and explains several day-to-day mechanisms (Chemical Elements and Water, 2007). The biological significance of water in the human body alone is 70% therefore demonstrates how crucial it is.
An important feature of water is its polar nature. A single water molecule consists of two hydrogen atoms and an oxygen atom (Henry Cavendish, 1782) (Gay-Lussac and Humboldt, 1805) [1] [3], however the electrons in the covalent bonding are not shared equally. Since oxygen has a greater electronegativity than hydrogen, the side of the molecule with the oxygen atom has a partial negative charge. This attraction is known as hydrogen bonding, explaining several properties of water. The hydrogen bonding is relatively weak in comparison to the covalent bond within the molecule itself, therefore is responsible for many of water’s physical properties [2]. Example of one such property is its high melting and boiling points as more heat is required to break the hydrogen bonds between molecules. …show more content…

The molecules have the ability to form hydrogen bonds with other poplar substances. Adhesion enables water to “climb” upwards, along narrow spaces, in a process called capillarity. This can be observed on extremely smooth glass whereby the water may form a thin film as the molecular forces between glass and water molecules- adhesive forces, are stronger than the cohesive forces. This is achieved as the water molecules are more attracted to the glass than they are to the other water molecules (as glass molecules have greater polarity than water

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