Water and Transport worksheet

1. Explain why water is described as a dipolar.

2. What is a hydrogen bond?
3. What makes water useful as a solvent?
4. Explain why water has a high specific heat capacity.
5.
a. What is cohesion?
b. Why is cohesion between water molecules important in blood?
6. Water is a polar molecule. The diagram shows a molecule of water.
Copy and complete the diagram to show the dipole nature of this
water molecule.
7. Explain how the dipolar nature of water is essential for living organisms. (2 marks)
8. Blood plasma contains glucose dissolved in water. Glucose is a polar molecule that is
taken up by muscle cells and used in the synthesis of glycogen. Explain why water is a
good solvent. (2 marks)
9. Copy and complete the table below, to show why water is ideal as the transport
medium in blood.

10.Vitamin C is water-
soluble. Vitamin A is fat-
soluble. Give a possible
explanation for this
difference.
11.A celebrity chef
announces on his TV
show that it would be
better to boil a joint of
meat rather than roast
it. He says this is because the fat will dissolve out of the meat, making the meal lower
in fat and healthier. Is he correct in his explanation of what is happening during the
cooking? Explain your answer.
12.Mrs Papworth is worried that the fish in her large garden pond will get too hot on
very sunny days in summer. What would you say to make her realise that they do not
need to worry?
Answers
1. A water molecule has a positively charged hydrogen end and a negatively charged
oxygen end.
2. A weak bond between a slightly positively charged hydrogen atom in one molecule
and a slightly negatively charged atom in another molecule
3. The fact that it is a polar molecule
4. Lots of energy is needed to break the hydrogen bonds between water molecules. This
means that less energy is available to actually increase the temperature of the water
5.
a. The attraction between two molecules of the same type
b. Strong cohesion allows water to flow easily in blood
vessels.
6. See diagram
7. Water can form hydrogen bonds (1) and water is a solvent, so that substances can
easily be dissolved (1), and is cohesive so that it can flow easily (1). Water also has a
high specific heat capacity so that thermal energy is conserved easily in organisms (1)
8. Water is a dipolar molecule (1). Water surrounds polar molecules allowing them to
dissolve (1), and hydrogen bonds form (1)
9. See table
10.Vitamin C is a polar
molecule. Vitamin
A is not polar.
Therefore
hydrogen bonds
will only form
between Vitamin C
and water, allowing
it to dissolve. Vitamin A is transported in the blood bound to a protein.
11.The celebrity chef is not correct to say that the fat dissolves in the water; fat does not
dissolve in water. However, at higher temperatures the fat may melt and be released
into the water. So, when the meat is removed from the water there is less fat. There
may also have been less fat if the meat had been roasted and the fat poured off.
12.Water warms up and cools down slowly, so the fish will not experience rapid changes
in water temperature. On a sunny day, a large input of energy causes only a small
increase in water temperature. This is because a large amount of energy is required
to break hydrogen bonds between the water molecules.