The Student Room Group
Reply 1
Seth
Hi all, am writing an essay on the biological importance of water and I was wondering whether anyone could help me out with an introduction. I want to try and make it as gripping and riveting as possible. Difficult, I know but if anyone can help would be very much appreciated.. :smile: Thankyou


One major thing with water is that it can dissolve ionic compounds at room temperature. Few other liquids has this propperty. It is not a coincidence that water is teh most interesting medium to perform nanotech self-assembly in. The polar nature of water means that it can act as a solvent for a vast majority of different organic molecules.
Reply 2
Yeah, true, but that's not a particularly gripping introduction...

I'm not sure if you'd want to go with an intro of mine as I think they tend to be a little overly-dramatic (I never quite accepted leaving creative writing behind!). But how about something like:

Water is a basic necessity for all known forms of life. [I think it is anyway] It is able to pass through membranes that would act as a barrier to other compounds, and many desert-dwelling animals possess mechanisms to conserve as much water as possible; this gives some indication of its importance at both the cellular level and that of an organism. It can act as a solvent for multiple compounds and ions necessary for metabolism and can ensure that the temperature of ponds and lakes remains relatively constant. In this essay blah blah blah...

(Tip: I *always* put 'in this essay...' because it gives me a way to lay out my thoughts t the start, which makes the structure clearer, and also gives the reader some idea of what the essay will involve; it's sort of like an abstract from a paper)

Hope this helps a bit with ideas, it's *very* off the top of my head! (I usually spend a long time on my intros; I do think it's worth taking time over :smile:)
Reply 3
The use of water as a solvent in humans is very extensive. A main function is to transport materials around the body to where they are needed. Blood plasma, tissue fluid and lymph are all predominantly water and are used to dissolve a wide range of substances which can then be easily transported. It dilutes waste products in order to safely remove them from the body such as ammonia and urea. Many secretions that take place are in an aqueous solution such as dijestive juices or snake venoms that have toxins in suspension in water. It is a medium for chemical reactions because all reactions that take place are in an aqueous medium (reactants being dissolved in water) so without water there could be no metabolism or life. It is essential to the diffusion of materials across permeable membranes such as the lungs or alimentary canal as well as osmosis.
Reply 4
Seth
Hi all, am writing an essay on the biological importance of water and I was wondering whether anyone could help me out with an introduction. I want to try and make it as gripping and riveting as possible. Difficult, I know but if anyone can help would be very much appreciated.. :smile: Thankyou


Here the compact answer:

Water is important to living organisms because of its polar anture and the nature of its intermolecular forces.
Reply 5
A good idea is often to define lots of stuff in your intro too. You could describe what water actually is, etc (not as much scope for definition in this particular essay as for others but worth bearing in mind).

Lol, you should have plenty of ideas after all this :biggrin:
Reply 6
Another interesting 'fact' you could include is that in it's solid form (ie ice) it is less dense than in liquid form, so the ice will float on top of the water. This is because of hydrogen bonding (I hope i've remembered this correctly!).
Chicken
Another interesting 'fact' you could include is that in it's solid form (ie ice) it is less dense than in liquid form, so the ice will float on top of the water. This is because of hydrogen bonding (I hope i've remembered this correctly!).



and that can insulate the organisms underwater so that they don't die... this is an example of water as a form of preserving life........... :cool:
Reply 8
Thanks a lot to everyone! Am going on Biology field trip tommorow for a week in sunny Wales, so it looks like im going to have to do this essay en express when I get back, hoping that it arrives before the deadline :rolleyes: You've all been very helpful, some very good ideas :smile:
Reply 9
Have fun :smile: