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The Biological Importance of Water.
Member rating: No Rating | Words: | Submitted: Mon Jun 28 2004
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The Biological Importance of Water Water is the major constituent of living matter. From 50 to 90 percent of the weight of living organisms is water. Protoplasm, the basic material of living cells, consists of a solution in water of fats, carbohydrates, proteins, salts, and similar chemicals. Water acts as a solvent, transporting, combining, and chemically breaking down these substances. Blood in animals and sap in plants consist largely of water and serve to transport food and remove waste material. Water also plays a key role in the metabolic breakdown of such essential molecules as proteins and carbohydrates. This process, called hydrolysis, goes on continually in living cells. A water molecule consists of an oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms, which are attached at an angle of 105°. There are two pairs of electrons on the bottom that form a similar angle in a plane that is perpendicular. This asymmetrical arrangement accounts...
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