Answered: If you added many phospholipids to some…

If you added many phospholipids to some water, they would spontaneously orient themselves into something resembling a membrane! Describe why this occurs.

Concepts of Biology

1st Edition

ISBN:9781938168116

Author:Samantha Fowler, Rebecca Roush, James Wise

Publisher:Samantha Fowler, Rebecca Roush, James Wise

Chapter3: Cell Structure And Function

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 18CTQ: Why is it advantageous for the cell membrane to be fluid in nature?

See similar textbooks

Related questions

Q: Alanine is an example of an uncharged solute. In the image below, indicate whether the most…

A: Cell transport refers to the movement of molecules and ions across the cell membrane, which is a…

Q: Which portion of a phospholipid is found in the middle (the interior) of a membrane?

A: The phospholipid bilayer consists of two adjacent sheets of phospholipids, arranged tail to tail.

Q: A cell that is missing this structure would not have a rigid structural support outside of its…

A: There are two types of cells which are classified as Animal cell and Plant cells. Both the cells…

Q: What chemical property characterizes the interior of the phospholipid bilayer? Group of answer…

A: Cell membrane is the outer covering of cell.

Q: Below are listed molecules with different chemical characteristics. Knowing that all molecules will…

A: Introduction A thin polar membrane comprised of two layers of lipid molecules is known as a lipid…

Q: Temperature can have a great effect on the fluidity of a bilayer. True Or False

A: membrane fluidity refers to the viscosity of the lipid bilayer of a cell membrane or a synthetic…

Q: describe how phospholipids and proteins interact in

A: The cell is the basic fundamental unit. It comprises several components that play a major role in…

Q: Explain why phospholipids have a natural tendency to self-assemble into a bilayer. Why is this…

A: Phospholipids are cylindrical in structure with hydrophilic and hydrophobic ends.

Q: A phospholipid bilayer with equal amounts of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids displays a…

A: Introduction Lipids:- A lipid is any of various organic compounds that are insoluble in water. They…

Q: The cells of plant seeds store oils in the form of droplets enclosed by membranes. Unlike the…

A: Some living structures have monolayers whereas some of them have bilayers. There are cell walls that…

Q: O cytoplasm CY

A: Cholesterol is a major part of plasma membrane. So we can rule out the first option.

Q: magine that a cell has a plasma membrane made ONLY of phospholipids and contains no proteins.…

A: Simple diffusion is a process in which small molecules move through the plasma membrane without the…

Q: Ammonia (NH3) is a weak base that under acidic conditions becomes protonated to the ammonium ion in…

A: The cells are the basic structures found in all living organisms with viruses and viroids being the…

Q: What are the functional significance of the fluidity of a cell membrane?

A: Cell membrane is also known as plasma membrane or cytoplasmic membrane. It is a biological membrane…

Q: Which of the following molecules may diffuse freely through a phospholipid bilayer? (select two…

A: Alanine: An amino acid having a short hydrophobic side chain is called alanine. This lipid bilayer…

Q: The intracellular salt content of a red blood cell is about 150 mM. The cell is put in a 500 mM salt…

A: Hypertonicity occurs when the quantity of solute in the solution is larger than the amount of solute…

Q: The image shows a lipid bilayer, with the polar heads represented by circles and the hydrophobic…

A: Lipid bilayers are mainly composed of phospholipids. Phospholipids have a hydrophilic head group and…

Q: What explains the very slow movement of membrane phospholipids from one leaflet of a biological…

A: The slow movement of membrane phospholipids from one leaflet of a biological membrane to the other…

Q: Which is the proper order of permeability the following solutes would show when it moves across a…

A: Cell membrane is found in both animal and plant cells. It is also called as plasma membrane which…

Q: Phospholipids form the main fabric of the plasma membrane. One feature of phospholipids is that when…

A: Step 1: The Hydrophilic describes substances or surfaces that have an affinity or attraction to…

Q: A student has 3 unknown molecules. In order to better understand the properties of these molecules,…

A: Biological membrane have Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic properties

Q: Proteins, like lipids, are free to move in the membrane. How do we know this?

A: Membranes are composed of lipid bilayers.

Q: Sassa, a biology professor, wanted to demonstrate to her students the applicability of a dialyzing…

A: Dialysis is a traditional laboratory technique that uses selective diffusion of molecules across a…

Q: “Plasma membrane is described as protein iceberg in sea of lipids”. why ?

A: The plasma membrane of the cell is a network of lipids and proteins that forms the boundary between…

Q: Which of the following statements is/are incorrect? 1. The cell membrane is purely hydrophobic. 2.…

A: The cell membrane is composed of the lipid bilayer with hydrophilic head a and hydrophobic tail of…

Q: Which statement best fits the following diagram? The purplish dots are sugar molecules and the blue…

A: In the provided diagram, we have purplish dots representing sugar molecules and blue areas…

Q: What enzymes are responsible for distributing phospholipids in the correct side of the membrane?

A: Biological membranes include a lipid bilayer which act as a selective permeable barrier to generate…

Concept explainers

Osmosis

In simple words, osmosis is the slow, gradual movement of a liquid through a membrane. But there are nuances to this process. For instance, there has to be an imbalance in the distribution of solute in the liquid on either side of the membrane, which has to be semipermeable. The liquid in the region with a lower solute concentration moves to the region with a higher concentration, thereby displacing the solution in the process. The objective is to equalize the concentration of molecules on both sides of the membrane; the displacement of liquid can be viewed as a byproduct of this equalization. Since there is no energy required to carry osmosis, it is considered a passive process.

Question

If you added many phospholipids to some water, they would spontaneously orient themselves into something resembling a membrane! Describe why this occurs.

Expert Solution

This question has been solved!

Explore an expertly crafted, step-by-step solution for a thorough understanding of key concepts.

SEE SOLUTION Check out a sample Q&A here

Step 1

VIEW

Step 2

VIEW

Step by step

Solved in 2 steps

SEE SOLUTION Check out a sample Q&A here

Knowledge Booster

Learn more about

Need a deep-dive on the concept behind this application? Look no further. Learn more about this topic, biology and related others by exploring similar questions and additional content below.

Similar questions

Which of the following is a true statement? Sphingolipids contain 2 hydrophobic, acyl chains Phospholipids contain 3 hydrophobic acyl chains Sphingolipids are completely no-polar, hydrophobic molecules The different types of phospholipids do not have different physical properties when in the membrane
The following figure shows a typical phospholipid. Suppose this molecule was incorporated into a cell membrane. Which letter indicates the portion of the molecule that would be exposed to the aqueous environment? CH₂ I H₂C-N¹-CH₂ CH₂ A H₂C H₂C H₂C CH₂ CH₂O HO CH ₂ H₂C H₂C CH₂ OH HO O–CH, H₂C H₂C H₂C CH₂ HC CH₂ CH₂ CH-O CH-OH H₂C CH₂ H₂C CH₂ H₂C/ H₂C H₂C H₂C H₂C CH₂ H₂C CH₂ CH₂ CH₂ CH₂ CH₂ CH₂ CH₂ H₂C/
The cell membranes are made of phospholipids arranged in a structure called the 'phospholipid bilayer'. Describe how the phospholipids interact with each other and water to keep the phospholipid bilayer together.
Which statement is correct about the phospholipids in membranes? The polar heads face inward The non-polar tails face outward The non-polar tails are hydrophilic A bilayer forms with the heads facing outward and the tails facing inward
Lipid rafts form because membrane component such as sphingolipids and cholesterol molecules preferentially associate with another. Why do you think that the aggregates are limited in size?
Phospholipids form the main fabric of the plasma membrane. One feature of phospholipids is that when they are placed in an aqueous solution, they will self-assemble into a double layer (bilayer) that resembles the bilayer of the plasma membrane. This self-assembly occurs because phospholipids are hydrophilic at one end (the phospholipid head) and hydrophobic at the other end (the phospholipid tails). Drag the labels to their appropriate locations in the figure. 1. First, drag labels of Group 1 to targets (a) and (b) to indicate whether these environments are hydrophilic or hydrophobic. 2. Next, drag the phospholipid layers (Group 2) to targets (c) and (d) to indicate how they are oriented in the plasma membrane. 3. Finally, drag labels of Group 1 to targets (e), (f), and (g) to indicate which portions of the membrane protein are hydrophilic and which are hydrophobic. Group 1 extracellular hydrophobic fluid © hydrophilic plasma membrane Group 1 Group 2 (f membrane protein Group 1 Group…
According to the fluid mosaic model of cell membranes, which of the following is a true statement about membrane phospholipids? They frequently flip-flop from one side of the membrane to the other. They have hydrophilic tails in the interior of the membrane. They can move laterally along the plane of the membrane. They are free to depart from the membrane and dissolve in the surrounding solution.
Snake venom contains the enzyme phospholipase A2, which cleaves the fatty acid at position 2 of a phospholipid. Draw a phospholipid of your choice. Then draw the same phospholipid, but after it has been cleaved by phospholipase A2. How would this change affect the structure of a cell membrane?
Below is the skeletal formula of a molecule typically found in cell membranes. What type of molecule is this and how can you tell? What are the functions of this type of molecule in the plasma membrane of a cell? H HO CH3 CH3 C-H + H-C-H H
A phospholipid in cell membrane is an amphiphilic molecule, meaning it has both a hydrophilic region and a hydrophobic region. Suppose the phospholipid loses this property, what consequences will it bring to the cell.
What is the role of cholesterol in the cell membrane? It converts cis bonds of fatty acids to trans. It allows for the formation of micelle structures. It attracts to the polar phospholipid heads. It reduces membrane fluidity.
The selected answer is incorrect