Concept explainers
According to the fluid mosaic model, membranes are held together by hydrophobic interactions. Considering the forces that some cells may experience, why do membranes not break apart every time an animal moves?
To explain: That why do membranes not break apart every time an animal moves.
Introduction: The cell membrane is also called cytoplasmic membrane or plasma membrane. Cell membrane is a biological membrane. The major function of the cell membrane is to protect the cell from its surroundings.
Explanation of Solution
The fluid mosaic model describes the structure of cell membrane. In fluid mosaic model, a flexible layer is composed of lipid molecules and is interspersed with large molecules of protein. As the name suggests for this model (fluid mosaic model), the cell membranes have some degree of fluidity. The degree of fluidity differs with the membrane composition, while in all membranes; phospholipids are able to move about inside the membrane. The phospholipid bilayers are spontaneously formed due to the hydrophobic and hydrophilic opposite ends of phospholipid molecules. Thus, when stressing forces occurs to damage a membrane, automatically adjacent phospholipids move to fill in the opening. Therefore, the membrane does not break apart every time an animal moves.
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Chapter 5 Solutions
BIOLOGY (LL) W/ACCESS
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- Biology 2eBiologyISBN:9781947172517Author:Matthew Douglas, Jung Choi, Mary Ann ClarkPublisher:OpenStax