Unit 2: The Chemistry of Life

Daysheet 28: The Amazing Properties of Water Laboratory

Name: ____________________

Biology I
Date: ___________

BELLRINGER:

Directions:
1. Get out your tablet or another device that can get to the Internet.
2. Type in the following web address:

http://tinyurl.com/my2ses5
3. Complete the Matter, Water & pH Bellringer practice quiz.
4. You must take the practice test until you are able to answer all 15 questions correctly.

Objective: I can identify the unique properties of water in laboratory and make life connections.
Homework: Complete HW#28. Study for your Matter, Water & pH Summative Quiz that will be
administered during our next class.

Station 1: Adhesion
Instructions:
1. Observe the graduated cylinder that is filled half way with water.
2. Is the level of the water straight across or does it dip in the middle?
3. Draw a picture of what you see at the water level below:

4. Look on the reading at your table for a definition of adhesion. What evidence does a meniscus
provide for adhesion?
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5. Develop a hypothesis for why the line on the test tube looks like it does above:
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6. Look on the reading at your station for a definition of capillary action:
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Life connection:
7. Plants absorb water in their roots, and need to transport that water up through their stems to the
leaves. How could adhesion help them to do this?
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Station 2: Cohesion
1. Hypothesize: How many drops of water will fit on a penny before they fall
off??
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2. Use the dropper to place water on top of the penny and count how many drops it can hold
without the water falling off.
3. How many drops can fit?
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4. Did the drops on the penny stick together or spread apart?
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5. Look on the reading at your station for a definition of cohesion. What evidence does the penny
experiment provide for cohesion?
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6. What is responsible for waters cohesion?
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Life connection:
7. Plants absorb water in their roots, and need to transport that water up through their stems to the
leaves. How could cohesion help them to do this?
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CLEARN UP: DRY OFF PENNY AND PLACE ON PAPER TOWEL

Station 3: Solute and Solvents

1. Hypothesize: What happens when you add salt to water?
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2.
3.
4.
5.

Fill one beaker with water.

Measure one spoonful of salt.
Stir with a stirring stick.
Record observations about the salt and water below:

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6. Look at the reading at your station; what are the definitions of the following terms:
Solute:
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Solvent:
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7. Is water a solvent or a solute? ____________________________________________________
8. Is salt a solvent or a solute? ______________________________________________________
9. Look at the reading at your station and answer the following question in your own words: Why
is water the universal solvent?
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Life connection:
10. Materials (like nutrients and oxygen) have to move all over your body. How do you think
materials move from one place to another in the body?
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CLEAN-UP: DUMP SALT WATER IN SINK CLOSET ANDREFILL WITH FRESH WATER!

Station 4: Surface Tension

1. Hypothesize: Can a paperclip float on water?
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2. Fill one beaker with water.
3. Drop a paperclip into the water.
4. Record observations about what happened below:
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5. Use the plastic fork to gently lay the paperclip of the surface of the water.
6. Record observations about what happened below:
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7. Look on the reading at your station for a definition of surface tension. Write a definition in
your own words of surface tension:
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8. What property of water causes surface tension?
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9. Place some drops of water on a penny. Stick a toothpick in soap and then stick the toothpick in
the center of the water. Parts of soap are nonpolar. Describe what you think is happening below:
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Life connection:
10. Why do you think surface tension important for some organisms?
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HW28: Properties of Water Review

Name: __________________________

Biology I
Date: _____________________

Directions: Use your reading strategies (underline, highlight and/or circle) to receive full credit for your work.
The structure of the water molecule gives water unique properties. Water is a polar molecule, which means that
it has a region with a slight negative charge (the oxygen atom), and a region with a slight positive charge (the
hydrogen atoms). The oppositely charged regions of water molecules interact to form hydrogen bonds. A
hydrogen bond is an attraction between a slightly positive hydrogen atom and a slightly negative atom.
Hydrogen bonds are responsible for several important properties of water.
High specific heat: Water resists changes in temperature; it must absorb a large amount of heat
energy to increase in temperature.
Cohesion: The attraction among molecules of a substance is called cohesion. Cohesion due to
hydrogen bonds makes water molecules stick together.
Adhesion: The attraction among molecules of different substances is called adhesion. Water
molecules stick to many other materials because of hydrogen bonds.
Many compounds that are important for life dissolve in water. Water is the largest component of cells
interiors, and chemical reactions in the cell take place in this water. When one substance dissolves in another, a
solution is formed. The substance present in the greatest amount is called the solvent. Substances that are
present in lower amounts and dissolve in the solvent are called solutes. Polar solvents, such as water, dissolve
polar molecules and ions.
When some substances dissolve in water they break up into ions. A compound that releases a hydrogen ion (a
proton) when it dissolves in water is an acid. Bases are compounds that remove, or accept, hydrogen ions. A
solutions acidity, or its hydrogen ion concentration, is measured on the pH scale. An acid has a low pH (pH
below 7) and a high hydrogen ion concentration. A base has a high pH (pH above 7) and a low hydrogen ion
concentration. Organisms must maintain a stable pH. Even a small change in pH can disrupt many biological
processes.
1. Explain why water is a polar molecule?
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2. How do hydrogen bonds form?
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3. What are the two parts of a solution?
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4. What types of molecules dissolve easily in water? What types do not dissolve easily in water?
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5. What does pH mean?