Metabolic water

Hi,
I have been set various sheets fro homework, all fine except this:

"Desert animals often rely on metabolic water. Explain this term."

I have absooutly no idea what metabolic water is and it isn't mentioned in my text book. Any suggestions much appreciated

Reply 1

moojoo

I think it means water that's produced by metabolic reactions, i.e. aerobic respiration

opposed to water that's drunk, as there isn't much available

Reply 2

Kyoto

Metabolic water is basically water which is produced from the breakdown food molecules such as carbohydrates and proteins. So in essence, it is water produced from metabolic reactions.

Reply 3

123vix100

from what i can gather the term means that to survive in their harsh conditions, desert animals have adapted so that they only use water produced by cellular metabolism and it's asking you to explain how they do this.

Reply 4

Kyoto

123vix100

They asked for an explanation of the term only, not the process.

Reply 5

Apricots

Okay, thanks - I think i get the general idea, it seems kind of obvious now looking at the term. As for what I actually have to write, i don't think its much because theres not a very big gap - its a work sheet produced by college as opposed to a exam question

Reply 6

dfghj

Because the question specifies desert animals' adaptions you might want to mention that they often store large amounts of fats which can be used as a respiratory substrates and thus produce large amounts of metabolic water due to the saturation of hydrogens on the fatty acids and glycerol molecules (e.g. camels' fatty humps).

Reply 7

123vix100

Kyoto

They asked for an explanation of the term only, not the process.

theres no harm in explaining further! sometimes it needs an explanation so it makes good practise to do it just incase!

Reply 8

Kyoto

123vix100

theres no harm in explaining further! sometimes it needs an explanation so it makes good practise to do it just incase!

Of course there is. If you're writing more than is required, you're not just wasting valuable time, you're also creating a wider scope for error which could potentially make you lose the examiner's "benefit of the doubt".

Reply 9

belis

Originally Posted by 123vix100
theres no harm in explaining further! sometimes it needs an explanation so it makes good practise to do it just incase!

Of course there is. If you're writing more than is required, you're not just wasting valuable time, you're also creating a wider scope for error which could potentially make you lose the examiner's "benefit of the doubt".

In exam I agree. Just answer the question. But when doing practise questions it is better )in mz opinion) to include additional bits around the topic for extra knowledge. You never know at what aspect the real exam question will focus. Not to mention how much I hate the idea of learning "to pass exam" and not seeing anything outside specification, but that is for another topic.

Reply 10

Dekota

Off-topic, but for the sciences, Is there a reason why the mark-schemes are so 'structured' and just so short?

Reply 11

123vix100

belis

just as i was saying. it helps you to revise every aspect of the subject.

Reply 12

oxymoron

Kyoto

Metabolic water is basically water which is produced from the breakdown food molecules such as carbohydrates and proteins. So in essence, it is water produced from metabolic reactions.

NB: the actual breakdown of Carbohydrates and proteins into their monomers REQUIRES water because they are hydrolysis reactions. It is only the respiration of these monomers that produces water by reducing oxygen.