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Chemical Properties of Water

  • The environment around the neuron cell membrane, both inside and out, consists mostly of image descriptionwater.
An image showing cell membrane
An image showing cell membrane inside water which is between two internal environments
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  • Water molecules are image descriptioncomposed of one oxygen atom (O) covalently bonded to two hydrogens atoms (H).
An image showing water molecules
An image showing water molecules, one is highlighted
An image showing enlarged water molecule
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  • Their affinity for the shared electrons is not equal, however. The oxygen atom is more electronegative (an atom’s tendency to attract electrons).
  • As a result, the negatively charged electrons tend to spend more time around the oxygen, which causes the image descriptionwater molecules to become polar.

With so much information to take in, it’s important to test how well you’ve really understood. We recommend using the method of active recall.

  • Most of the time, the oxygen side of the molecule is slightly negative and the hydrogen side is slightly positive.
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