IBDP Biology

Topic 2.2: Water

Practical: Properties of Water

Background information:

Water is a polar molecule. The oxygen atom in water has a greater electronegativity, or a
stronger “pull” on the electrons that it shares with the two hydrogens it is covalently bonded to.
As a result, the molecule ends up having a partially negatively charged end, near the oxygen, and
a partially positively charged end near the hydrogens – much like a magnet.

And much like a magnet, opposite charges will attract and likes will repel, so that the slightly
negatively charged oxygen of one water molecule will be attracted to the slightly positively
charged hydrogen of a neighboring water molecule. This weak attraction and “sticking together”
of polar molecules is called hydrogen bonding.

Water is an extremely important molecule in biology. Life came from the earliest watery
environments, and thus all life depends upon the unique features of water which result from its
polar nature and ‘stickiness’. Some of the unique properties of water that allow life to exist are:
• It is less dense as a solid than as a liquid
• It sticks to itself – cohesion – cohesion is also related to surface tension
• It sticks to other polar or charged molecules – adhesion – adhesion results in phenomena such
as capillary action
• It is a great solvent for other polar or charged molecules
• It has a very high specific heat (heat of fusion and heat of vaporization) – that is, it can absorb
a great deal of heat energy while displaying only small increases in temperature

In this lab you will explore and explain these unique properties through the completion of
several demonstrations set up around the classroom. You should work in pairs (or threes) at one
of the five stations, spending about 5 minutes completing the exercises and discussing the
chemical explanation with your partner/s. After the designated time, move to the next station in
the sequence, and perform the next exercise. Continue these regular intervals until you have
completed the work at each of the different stations. You may start at any of the stations, but

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there should be no more than two groups working at any station at one time. Station 6 is an
online data-collecting activity to be done for homework.
Aim:
To understand the different properties of water and relate them to the survival of living organisms

Apparatus and Materials provided:

Glass slide 12
Plastic dropper 9
Paper clips 6
Petri dish 9
Plastic fork 6
Coin 6
Wax paper (5 cm x 5 cm) 6
Capillary tube (different sizes) 3@
Plastic ruler 6
Distilled water (in 250 mL beaker) 5 (100 mL @)
Detergent solution (in dropping bottle) 2 (50 mL @)
Alcohol (in dropping bottle) 50 mL
Paper towel

Station 1: Water as glue?

1. Put two wet slides together and then try to pull the wet slides apart. What do you observe?
The slides are stuck together and difficult to pull apart. They also suck onto each other and
wouldn’t be detached when held up.

2. Given that glass has a charged surface, how would you explain your observations in terms of
water chemistry? What specific property or properties of water is/are involved here?
As the molecules that make up the glass surface is charged. Because of the polarity of the glass
molecule, water exhibits stronger adhesion to those surfaces that have some net electrical
charge. Water then attracts to the glass surface due to its chemical property of adhesion.

Station 2: Paper clip float

1. Fill a clean petri dish with fresh tap water (3/4 full). Using a plastic fork, gently try to float a
clean, dry paperclip on the surface of the water.
(Tip: Lower paperclip so that the entire surface hits the water at the same time.)
2. After you are successful, revel in your success! Then, carefully add one drop of detergent solution
to the dish. Record your observations below.
(**After finishing, rinse out the petri dishes and the paperclip to thoroughly remove the soap.
Leave the petri dish upside down to dry for the next group.)

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 The paper clip moved away from the detergent solution after one drop. After another drop, the
paper clip sinks to the bottom of the petri dish.

3. Explain what happened in terms of water chemistry. Why does the paperclip float? Can you
explain what happens when you add the detergent?
As the paper clip was lightly place on the surface of the water, the water surface tension causes
the paper clip to float. The cohesive forces between liquid molecules are responsible for the
phenomenon known as surface tension. The molecules at the surface of the water have other
water molecules on all sides of them and consequently they cohere more strongly to those
directly associated with them (in this case, the water molecules next to and below them, but not
above). This forms a strong surface tension which holds up the metal paper clip to prevent it
from sinking. However, when we add the detergent, the paperclip moves away from the area
where detergent was placed and eventually sinks. This is because the detergent disrupts the
hydrogen bonds that hold water molecules together and causes the surface tension of the water
to drop and not be able to hold up the paper clip. This is because the molecules of detergent
solutions are amphipathic molecules that contains both hydrophilic and hydrophobic factors on
the ends of the molecule. The hydrophobic ends attract to lipids and detest water; therefore,
they rise up to the surface of the water where there are less water molecules. This weakens the
hydrogen bonds holding the water molecules together at the surface and results is a break in the
surface tension of the water, causing the paper clip to move away to an area with less disruptive
detergent molecules, then sink as water surface tension is disrupted.

Station 3: Drops on a penny

1. Take a dry penny and place it on a dry paper towel.
2. Using a dropper, slowly drop water (count the drops!) onto the surface of the penny. Just before it
overflows, sketch the shape of the water on the penny below. Continue until it overflows. How
many drops did it take?
3. Try this whole process again with alcohol.
Liquid No. of drops to overflow Sketch

Water 66

Alcohol 41

Detergen
32
t

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4. Why would these differ? What is your prediction as to the chemical nature of alcohol, compared
to water?
Water has a higher surface tension which could hold up to 66 water droplets on the penny to
form a dome shape. Alcohol has a lower surface tension therefore on 44 droplets could be held
on the penny, also the shape was a lightly bent line, this suggests that there is not much tension
in alcohol to hold up itself to form a dome shape.

5. Now dry your penny off slowly drop soapy water onto its surface until it overflows – counting
each drop. How many drops did it take?
(** Rinse off and dry the penny thoroughly once you have recorded your data.)
32 drops

6. Soaps are amphipathic molecules, meaning that they possess both a charged or polar region at one
end and a non-polar region at the other. Using what you know about the behavior of polar and
non-polar substances, hypothesize what is happening at a molecular level to cause the
phenomenon you observed in the step above.
(Feel free to use drawings as part of your explanation.)
From the reaction seen above, we can hypothesize that due to the amphipathic quality of the
molecule, the hydrophobic end of the soapy water solution would avoid water, and by avoiding
water, they would move to the metallic surface of the coin and the surface of the water, both
areas contain less water than the interior part. The hydrophilic part of the solution would then
bond well with water due to their cohesive qualities, thus concentrated on the interior region of
the solution on the coin. The hydrophobic part could not bond cohesively with other molecules,
therefore failing to form a strong surface tension, which could not uphold a dome shape of
solution on the coin, therefore we could hypothesize that soapy water takes less drops than
alcoholic and water solution to overflow the coin, due to their weak surface tension as
hydrophobic parts of the molecule could not bond cohesively with other molecules.

Station 4: Drops on glass and wax paper

1. Before you begin: What do you predict the shape of a drop of water will be on a glass slide? And
on a piece of wax paper?
The shape of water would be spread out and flat on glass, a dome shape on wax paper.

2. Why did you make these predictions? What assumptions are guiding your thinking?
We thought that the shape of water would be flatter on the glass slide than the wax paper as
there are less friction on glass than wax paper. It was proved in the first experiment that when
we dropped water on the glass slide, it would spread out, instead of forming a domed shape.
We thought that friction was a contributing factor to the shape of water on objects, so as wax
paper has more friction than glass, so the cohesive quality of water will form a strong bond

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 between its molecules.

3. Now, place a drop of water on each surface and draw the results below.
Glass slide Wax paper

4. Compare your predictions with your results and explain your observations. What do you think the
chemical nature of the glass and wax paper is, given what you know about the polar nature of
water molecules? What property of water is at play here?
Our predictions were accurate with our test results. The water on the wax paper was like a
dome shape because wax paper has a hydrophobic and non-polar surface, it helps water to hold
its shape with its cohesive property to strengthen their hydrogen bond to bond water molecules
with each other, instead of bonding to the wax paper. Glass is hydrophilic and polar, so it
allows water’s adhesive qualities to bond water molecules with the surface of the hydrophilic
glass, therefore the shape of water becomes flatter. Because water is polar in nature, it helps to
stick to polar substances by hydrogen bond, i.e. the glass.

Station 5: Climbing water

1. Here you will find different sized capillary tubes (small, medium and large) in a petri dish half
filled with water.
2. Gently lift the capillary tubes up to almost upright, without taking the tips out of the water.
3. Using the ruler, measure the height of the water column in each tube. Graph these results on a
simple (but labeled) bar graph in the space below. Graph from the smallest diameter to the largest
diameter tube on the x-axis, and the height of the water column on the y-axis.

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4. Glass has a charged surface. Explain your observations in terms of the polar nature of the water
molecules. What specific property of water plays a role here?
Water and glass tube are both polar in nature, so that water will stick to the wall of glass tube
so that water level in glass capillary tube rises once water is put into the capillary tubes.
Adhesive forces bond water with the surface of glass while cohesive forces bond water
molecules together. As there are more water, the cohesiveness of water increases so that water
can rise higher in the tube. Small tube has high adhesion, but not enough cohesive force.
Medium tube has high adhesion and cohesion force. large tube has high cohesion force, but low
adhesion force. Therefore the water rises the highest in the medium tube.

Station 6: Virtual lab of water properties

1. Go to the following webpage:
http://www.glencoe.com/sites/common_assets/science/virtual_labs/CT10/CT10.html
2. Read the paragraphs to understand the different properties of water. Follow the procedure to
complete all the tasks.
3. Complete the following questions.
(a) How are adhesion and cohesion similar? How are they different?
They both attract and bond water molecules with another molecule.
Adhesion attracts water molecules with foreign molecules to form a hydrogen bond.
Cohesion attracts water molecules together to form a hydrogen bond.

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(b) Why is the formation of hydrogen bonds between water molecules categorized as cohesion?
Cohesion refers to the attraction of molecules for other molecules of the same kind. The
molecules of water are connected to water molecules by cohesion, which are the same kind
of molecules. They bond together by hydrogen bond, hence the formation of hydrogen
bond between water molecules are categorized as cohesion.

(c) Describe surface tension in a group of bonded water molecules.

Surface tension in a group of bonded water molecules is defined as the property of
the surface of a liquid that allows it to resist an external force, due to the cohesive nature of
the water molecules that attracts water molecules with each other.

(d) Describe the arrangement of water molecules in solid, liquid and gas form. How does the
movement of the molecules differ in each form? Describe the bonds when the molecules are
in the motion.
When we observe water molecules in solid form, the water molecules are closely packed
between each other, there is no movement. The bond between water molecules are at the
strongest here it does not allow any movement.
When we see the water molecules in liquid form, we can see that even though the bottom of
the molecules moves rapidly, the surface molecule would stay turgid and not move at all.
This is surface tension in water molecules. The bond between water molecules are strong
but here but allows movement between molecules.
When we observe water molecules in gas form, the water at high speed with no pattern.
This is because the cohesive properties and their bond here is weakened by the heat of gas
state water, water molecules therefore could move faster and away from each other.

(e) The density of a substance refers to how close together the molecules in that substance are
packed. Compare the density of water in its three phases.
Water in solid form has the highest density, water in liquid form has higher density than it
in gas form, but lower than it in solid form. Water in gas form has the lowest density.

(f) Water is often called the 'universal solvent' because it can dissolve more substances than any
other liquid. Explain how the polarity of the water molecule makes this possible.
When a polar substance is put in water, the positive ends of its molecules are attracted to
the negative ends of the water molecules. The attractions cause the molecules of the new
substance to be mixed uniformly with the water molecules, thus dissolving into water. So,
water is being called as “universal solvent” as many substances can dissolve in water due to

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its polarity.

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