AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -If you were a fish in a pond in the winter in Minnesota, for what property of water would you be most grateful? Water has an unusually high specific heat. What does this mean? Answer: B)

Detailed explanation-2: -And that means fish must be able to survive down here. This is due to a special property of water: the elasticity of H2O. We know that when the temperature sinks below freezing, water first contracts and then expands as it begins to turn to ice.

Detailed explanation-3: -If you were a spider gliding across a pond in the summer in Virginia, for what property of water would you be most grateful? Answer: c. Cohesion among water molecules allows for surface tension, which, in turn, allows small, light creatures to literally walk on water.

Detailed explanation-4: -It’s the hydrogen bonding in water which is responsible for the reduced density in the solid phase. The hexagonal arrangement of water molecules in ice leaves some “holes” which give ice a density less than liquid water and it is why ice floats. The floating ice insulates the liquid water below it.

Detailed explanation-5: -Due to the extensive hydrogen bonding, water has some emergent properties that impact life on Earth in many ways. These include: Cohesion, Adhesion, High surface tension, High specific heat, High Heat of vaporization, and the fact that ice floats (Ice is less dense as a solid than liquid water).