Two students are discussing how oil behaves when it is mixed in water. Alice: Th
ID: 3162359 • Letter: T
Question
Two students are discussing how oil behaves when it is mixed in water. Alice: The electrostatic interaction between non-polar lipid tails and water is stronger than the electrostatic interaction between two non-polar lipid tails. Therefore, it is more favorable (i.e., lower energy) for lipid molecules to be surrounded by water molecules than it is for them to clump together amongst themselves. Bob: I know that lipids spontaneously clump together when placed in water. I've seen it happen! Therefore, since that is what spontaneously happens, the lowest energy state of the system must be the one in which the lipids are clumped together. Can you reconcile Alices and Bobs statements?Explanation / Answer
Water is a polar molecule and this is a key reason why water and oil do not mix. Polarity is when one end is positively charged while the other end is negatively charged. Each water molecule is made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. But the atoms are not aligned in a line. The electrons in the molecule concentrate more on the oxygen side of the molecule, giving this side a negative charge and the hydrogen side a positive charge. Only other polar molecules can dissolve in water because polar molecules dissolve only in polar solvents and vice versa
Oil and water do not mix because water molecules are electrically charged, they get attracted to other water molecules and expel the oil molecules. This eventually causes the oil molecules, or lipids, to clump together.
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