Biology Notes: Water and its properties: Polar solvent

Property: Polar solvent

• Water is an excellent solvent for ions and polar molecules because the water molecules attract to them, collect and separate them.
• This is what happens when a substance dissolves in water.
• Once a chemical is in solution, it is free to move about and react with other chemicals.
• Most processes in living organisms take place in solution.
• Non-polar molecules like lipids are insoluble in water.
• If surrounded by water they tend to repel/ push away forming micelles.

Biological role of this property

• This is important in hydrophobic interactions in protein structure and membrane structure by increasing the stability of these structures.

To access more topics go to the O Level Biology Notes page