Water Properties Prelab

 

 

Properties of Water

Pre-Lab Questions:

1. Explain why water is referred to as the universal solvent.

 

2. What is the overall charge on a molecule of water?

3. Water is a polar molecule (appears to have a charge). Explain why this is so.

 

4. Which end of a water molecule “acts negative”? Which “acts positive”?

5. Is water the only molecule that is polar?

6. Explain what occurs whenever several water molecules are near each other in a droplet. Include a sketch of this.

 

 

 

7. The property of water molecules being attracted to other water molecules is called ________________.

8. Explain what causes water to have surface tension.

 

9. Surface tension causes causes water to _____________ on surfaces such as glass.

10. In order to clean a surface, what must happen to surface tension? What type of chemicals can do this? Give an example

 

11. Besides reducing surface tension, what 4 other things can surfactants perform?