Describe the Critical Role That Water Plays In Maintaining Life on Earth, Both as a Constituent of Living Organisms and as an Environment.

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Katie Finn

Describe the Critical Role That Water Plays In Maintaining Life on Earth, Both as a Constituent of Living Organisms and as an Environment

One of the most abundant components of all organisms is water. Around 3/4 of the earths surface is covered by water and it makes up 70% of human cells and up to 95% of the mass of a plant. With these kinds of statistics you can see why it is so important.

        Water is a polar molecule meaning the distribution of electrical charge creates centres of positive and negative charge. These centres are separated by a short distance and the unequal distribution causes the polarity.

        This polarity makes water a very good solvent. It attracts other charged particles such as ions and other polar molecules. These particles become much more reactive in solutions as they are free to move about and react with other chemicals. On the other hand, non polar molecules such as lipids are insoluble in water. When they are surrounded by water, the water molecules tend to attract each other pushing the non-polar molecules together.

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        One role of water is that of a transport medium both inside and outside the cell. This is seen clearly in the blood as plasma is made up of over 90% water with soluble food minerals, hormones and urea dissolved in it. It is also seen in the vascular tissues in plant phloem transport of sucrose and amino acids in solution. All living things need continuing supplies of water to survive. A plant needs water to keep up the internal pressure or turgidity in its cells and tissues (which maintains the plant's shape), to bring in dissolved minerals and raw ...

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