What is the role of water molecules and hydrogen bonding in living organisms?
Answer (1)
Water molecules are essential to all living things. In the human body, water makes up about 60% of our weight. One of the most important things about water is that its molecules can form hydrogen bonds. These are weak bonds, but they are very useful because they help water stick to itself and to other substances.A water molecule is made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom (H₂O). The oxygen atom pulls the shared electrons closer to itself, which makes that part of the molecule slightly negative and the hydrogen ends slightly positive. This unequal sharing creates polar molecules, which attract each other like tiny magnets. That attraction is called a hydrogen bond.Hydrogen bonding makes water a great solvent—it can dissolve many substances, which is important for digestion, circulation, and cellular activities. Water also helps control body temperature through sweating. When we sweat, water molecules evaporate from our skin, taking heat with them.In biology, hydrogen bonds are also important in DNA. The two strands of DNA are held together by hydrogen bonds between the bases (A-T and C-G). Even though the bonds are weak, they are just strong enough to keep the DNA stable while still allowing it to unzip during cell division.In summary, water and hydrogen bonding are essential for life because they support many of the body’s functions: dissolving nutrients, controlling temperature, transporting substances, and even storing genetic information. Without hydrogen bonds, water wouldn’t have these helpful properties, and life as we know it wouldn’t be possible.
