Biology Notes: Water and its properties: Transport medium and specific heat capacity

Property: Transport medium

• Water is a neutral liquid medium because it has a pH of 7.

Biological role of this property

• Water’s solvent properties also mean that it acts as a transport medium in the blood transporting cells, lymphatic and excretory system, the alimentary canal and in the xylem and phloem.

Property: High heat capacity

• Water has a high heat capacity of 4 200 J.
• This means that a large increase in heat energy results in a relatively small rise in temperature.
• This is because much of the energy is used in breaking the hydrogen bonds which restrict the mobility of the molecules.
• Therefore temperature changes of water are minimized as a result of its high heat capacity.

Biological role

• It makes it easier to achieve a stable body temperature.

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