Question

3. How does water shape the lipid bilayer?

6. Discuss the importance of osmosis in maintaining water balance in an animal cell.

Answer 1

3. In phospholipids, the two fatty acids are hydrophilic and hydrophobic . When phospholipids are mixed with water , they spontaneously rearrange themselves to form the lowest free energy configuration. This means that the hydrophobic regions find ways to remove themselves from water, while the hydrophilic regions interact with water. The resulting structure is called a lipid bilayer. All biological membranes contain lipid bilayers, as well as proteins, which provides membranes with stability and specialized functions.

It is the shape and amphipathic nature of lipid molecules that cause them to form bilayers spontaneously in aqueous environments. If dispersed in water , they force the adjacent water molecules to recognise into icelike cages that surrounds tha hydrophobic molecules.

Therefore a clarification of the organisation of water molecules in different regions of the bilayer and it's thermodynamics properties in comparison to bulk water is required.

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