Chemistry of

Life
Properties of Water
Is there a
form of life
that lives
without
water?
How much of the Earth’s water
is fresh water?
It seems like there is a lot of water on earth –
this is true, but only about 3% of it is freshwater.
Most of the freshwater is ice. A great reason to
keep our lakes, streams, rivers and groundwater
clean.

Interestingly, human blood and seawater have

about the same salt concentration. This just a
little evidence that life on earth began under
water.
More about Water
Why are we studying water?

All life occurs in water

 inside & outside the cell
Water is essential to all life on
Earth!
• Water makes up about 70% of all living organisms on
Earth (almost 90% of body weight!). This is some more
evidence that life originated in water. Terrestrial
organisms, like humans, have to carry their water with
them.

• Human brains are about 70% water.

• Human lungs are nearly 90% water.
• Human blood is about 83% water.
To remain alive, an adult human must replace 2.5 Liters of
water/day. Much of this comes from foods that we eat.
Humans’ sense of smell, taste and sight require water,
and our alveoli, for gas exchange, always remain moist!
Water
• How do the unique
chemical and
physical properties
of water make life
on earth possible??

Bouncy water link

 The Polarity of Water
• 2 hydrogen's covalently bonded with 1 oxygen
• Water is polar = asymmetrical with charges on
opposite sides

• Water molecules act like tiny magnets

• Hydrogen bonding causes this “magnetism”
Chemistry of water
• H2O molecules form H-bonds
with each other
– + attracted to –
– creates a sticky molecule
 This attraction between water
molecules gives it many unique
properties:
•Water can absorb lots of
heat without changing
•Water dissolves more temperature, or changing
substances on earth than any phase (from liquid to gas)
other chemical!

•Water is less dense as a

solid than it is as a liquid –
this is very rare on earth!
•water is
•Water is “adhesive” – “cohesive”- it has
it binds well to other the ability to bind
things (like glass, to itself (like
metal, plastic) surface tension)
 The special case of ice
ice floats!!!
• Most (all?) substances are more dense when they are
solid, but
Not water…it is most dense at 4۫ C degrees
• Ice floats!
– H bonds form a crystal

And this has

made all the
difference!
Why is “ice floats” important?
• Oceans & lakes don’t freeze solid
– surface ice insulates water below
• allowing life to survive the winter
– if ice sank…
• ponds, lakes & even oceans would freeze solid
• in summer, only upper few inches would thaw
– seasonal turnover of lakes
• cycling nutrients in autumn
 Specific heat
• H2O resists changes in temperature
– high specific heat
– takes a lot to heat it up
– takes a lot to cool it down
• H2O moderates temperatures on Earth
Evaporative Cooling
Vaporization= liquid gas
Heat of Vaporization= quantity of heat a liquid must absorb for
1 g to be converted to gaseous state(2260J/g)

Evaporative cooling = cooling of a liquid’s surface

when the liquid evaporates
*as large # of molecules break free and depart, they carry away
some energy and decrease water’s surface temp.

Water’s high heat of vaporization:

1. Moderates earth’s climate
2. Stabilizes temp. in aquatic ecosystems
3. Helps organisms from overheating by
evaporative cooling
 High Surface
Tension
• A measure of how difficult
it is to stretch or break
the surface of a liquid
• Water has a greater
surface tension than most
liquids
• Causes water to bead
• A result of a large amount
of Hydrogen bonds
• Related to cohesion
Cohesion & Adhesion
• H bonding between H2O molecules is cohesion
– water is “sticky”
• surface tension
• drinking straw
• H bonding between H2O &
other substances is adhesion
– capillary action
Can you suck
– meniscus sugar up
– water climbs up a straw?
paper towel or cloth
 How does H2O get to top of trees?
Transpiration built on cohesion & adhesion

Why is this
important for
the tree?
Water is the solvent of life
• Polarity makes H2O a good solvent
– polar H2O molecules surround + & – ions
– solvents dissolve solutes creating solutions
Universal Solvent “like dissolves like”
• Solution = a liquid that is a homogeneous
mixture of 2 or more substances
• Solvent = Dissolving agent of the solution
• Solute = Substance dissolved in the
solution
• Aqueous = Solution in which water is the
solvent
Water is a medium for
the chemical reactions
of life~
METABOLISM
Or don’t you?
• Hydrophobic
– substances that don’t have an
attraction to H2O
– polar or non-polar?

fat (triglycerol)
Dissociation of Ionic compounds in water

Leads to pH. What is that?

 Organisms are sensitive to changes in pH

• Dissociation (separation into ions) of WATER

molecules. (acids/bases/salts also ionize)

• A equilibrium, most of the water is NOT ionized

Buffers
• Help to maintain the pH of body fluids within the narrow
range necessary for life
• Usually pH 68
• Buffer = substance that prevents large sudden changes
in pH
• Are combinations of H+ donor and H+ acceptor forms of
weak acids or weak bases
• Work by accepting H+ ions from solutions when they are
in excess, and by donating H+ ions to the solution when
they have been depleted
• Example:
Bicarbonate buffer
Buffers in the BLOOD!
“You have been ‘kissed’ at the witching hour
and your blood has been depleted of water
causing a rise in pH (more hydroxide ions)
of blood from normal 7.4 How does
equilibrium respond knowing a person cannot
survive a shift in blood pH of more than 10-
fold?

More carbonic acid dissociates resulting in more H + (producing

more water when it joins with the excess OH -)