Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Water organizes non polar molecules



How does Water organizes nonpolar molecules


 Water molecules always tend to form the maximum possible number of hydrogen bonds. When nonpolar molecules such as oils, which do not form hydrogen bonds, are placed in water, the water molecules act to exclude them. The nonpolar molecules are forced into association with one another, thus minimizing their disruption of the hydrogen bonding of water. In effect, they shrink from contact with water, and for this reason they are referred to as hydrophobic (Greek hydros, "water," and phobos, "fearing"). In contrast, polar molecules, which readily form hydrogen bonds with water, are said to be hydrophilic ("water-loving"). The tendency of nonpolar molecules to aggregate in water is known as hydrophobic exclusion. By forcing the hydrophobic portions of molecules together, water causes these molecules to assume particular shapes. This property can also affect the structure of proteins, DNA, and biological membranes. In fact, the interaction of nonpolar molecules and water is critical to living systems. 

Water can form ions


 The covalent bonds of a water molecule sometimes break spontaneously. In pure water at 25°C, only I out of every 550 mil-lion water molecules undergoes this process. When it happens, a proton (hydrogen atom nucleus) dissociates from the molecule. Because the dissociated proton lacks the negatively charged electron it was sharing, its positive charge is no longer counter-balanced, and it becomes a hydrogen ion, H'. 
The rest of the  dissociated water molecule, which has retained the shared electron from the covalent bond, is negatively charged and forms a hydroxide ion, OH-. This process of spontaneous ion formation is called ionization: 

At 25°C, a liter of water contains one ten-millionth (or 10-7) mole of H+ ions. A mole is defined as the weight of a sub-stance in grams that corresponds to the atomic masses of all of the atoms in a molecule of that substance. In the case of H+, the atomic mass is 1, and a mole of I-P ions would weigh I gram. One mole of any substance always contains 6.02 x 1023 molecules of the substince. Therefore, the molar concentration of hydrogen ions in pure water, represented as [HS is 10-7 moles/liter. (In reality, the hydrogen ion usually associates with another water molecule to form a hydroniwn ion, H30+.)

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