Cohesion Mini Lab

What are the properties of water? In mini-lab 1, water was dropped onto the flat surface of a penny until the surface tension of the water was broken. 50 drops were able to be put onto the penny surface, with 51 drops of water being the point at which the hydrogen bonds of the water droplets that had created surface tension prior to drop number 51 failed to keep the surface tension, and the water spilt over the edges of the penny. This number of drops on the penny, 50, was possible because of cohesion. Cohesion created surface tension so the water molecules form hydrogen bonds of a greater strength with the water molecules around them. Cohesion is when a water molecule’s positive hydrogen end bonds with the negative oxygen end of another water
The strip of paper towel was put into a beaker of water, and the distance the water climbed in measurement increments of 5 minutes. At minute 5, the water had climbed approximately 3 inches from the waterline. By minute 20, the water had climbed up to approximately 3.5 inches from the waterline. This is occurring due to capillary action, and the adhesion of water. Capillary action is what allows water to move against the pull of gravity. The action itself is when water molecules at the bottom of, for example, a paper towel strip push up and in turn push the molecules higher than the molecules at the bottom even farther up the paper towel strip. Adhesion is the force of attraction between polar molecules and water
The alcohol heated up in a shorter amount of time than the water due to water’s high specific heat. The slow heat up of the water is also by the cause of water’s high heat of vaporization. High specific heat is a property of water in which water absorbs a lot of heat before its temperature increases, and releases a lot of energy before the temperature decreases. High heat of vaporization is a property of water in which a large amount of energy is needed to split water molecules small enough that they turn into water vapor. These two specific properties are important to cellular structure because they prevent organisms from exploding when energy is absorbed into their bodies, like how alcohol explodes when heated to a certain point. This prevention of cellular explosion allows organisms to complete tasks, including traveling, working, preparing food, and other actions, without fear of dying from heat exhaustion or cellular