AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Water’s polarity allows it to form covalent bonds with many substances. Natural water has a pH of approximately 5.6, which is slightly acidic. Acids can dissolve more substances than bases can. Because it is polar, water forms ionic bonds with the ions in substances such as NaCl (salt).

Detailed explanation-2: -Water’s polarity allows it to dissolve other polar substances very easily. When a polar substance is put in water, the positive ends of its molecules are attracted to the negative ends of the water molecules, and vice versa.

Detailed explanation-3: -Polar/ionic solvents dissolve polar/ionic solutes and non-polar solvents dissolve non-polar solutes. For example, water is a polar solvent and it will dissolve salts and other polar molecules, but not non-polar molecules like oil.

Detailed explanation-4: -Generally speaking, water is good at dissolving ions and polar molecules, but poor at dissolving nonpolar molecules.

Detailed explanation-5: -Water molecules attract each other due to polarity. Polarity: Although the net charge of a water molecule is zero, water is polar because of its shape. The hydrogen ends of the molecule are positive and the oxygen end is negative. This causes water molecules to attract each other and other polar molecules.