The Role of Water in the Lives of Organisms

The Role of Water in the Lives of Organisms

Water is perhaps the most important molecule for the survival and life

of all living organisms because there is a wide spectrum of roles that

it plays. The fact that the earth's surface consists of 70.8% water

shows its significance and importance.

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Firstly, water has the chemical formula Hg0 (two Hydrogen atoms to one

Oxygen atom), the covalent bonds between which create cohesive forces.

Water has a very high specific heat capacity, measuring 4,200 Joules,

creating a stable environment for organisms to live in. This means

that water does not heat up or cool down too rapidly due to the

difficulty in breaking the hydrogen bonds, which restricts the

movement of the water molecules. This property of water is beneficial

to aquatic organisms (e.g. Fish, Jellyfish), as they do not have to

keep adapting their own body temperatures for survival.

Another property water has is its insulating nature in lakes and

rivers. As water cools toward 0°C, the water molecules slow down to

form the maximum number of hydrogen bonds. As this process continues,

water molecules must give enough space for all four hydrogen bonds to

fit, causing the water to expand as it freezes to form ice. Ice is

less dense than the liquid form and therefore floats, a property very

significant to the survival of fish as this layer of ice insulates the

liquid water below to prevent the whole lake or river to freeze.

Otherwise, this could be fatal for many organisms in the aquatic food

web.

Aquatic plants can survive in deep waters due to the fact th...

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...er as sweat,

the liquid gets turned into a vapour causing humans to cool down and

control our body temperature (a homeostasis process). The cooling

functions of water are connected to its high heat capacity nature.

Water has influences on a large number of aspects of organisms'

lives'. From habitat, transport, support, movement, fertilisation,

insulator, roles of key processes (photosynthesis and respiration),

protection from damage, homeostasis and gas exchange. Enzymes are very

important in the body of some / most organisms and catalyse almost

every reaction. However, they are soluble and will need water to

function, as a result water is very important. Water is an important

substrate for chemical reactions as well as product. Around 70% of

human mass consists of water, in plants, 95% of mass consists of

water.