Water's Life Supporting
Properties
- What do we mean when we say that water is a polar molecule?
- Why is water important to living systems? Consider the
following
properties of water in your discussion; cohesion, adhesion,
high specific heat, surface tension, versatility as a solvent.
- How does water influence the cooling and warming in biological
systems?
- Why does ice float, and why is this important to aquatic
ecosystems?
- Understand why certain compounds are hydrophilic or hydrophobic.
- What is a mole? What is molarity?
Describe
the
procedure for making a 1M solution of a compound.
- Acid/Base Chemistry:
- What is pH?
- What does it measure?
- What is a pH buffer and give some examples of their
importance
to
living systems?
- What are the implications of a log scale with respect to pH?
- What makes a substance an acid or a base?
- Why are these characteristics important to organisms?