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Hydrophilic, or 'water loving' refers to molecules that are easily miscible in water. Polar molecules and ionic compounds are generally hydrophilic, and non-polar molecules are generally hydrophobic.

See the Related Questions to the left for more information about how to determine if a molecule is non-polar, polar, or ionic.

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Q: What does hydrophilic mean and how do you determine if a molecule is hydrophilic or hydrophobic?
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Is a nonpolar molecule an hydrophibic or phidropilic?

I assume you mean hydrophobic and hydrophilic, as I am unaware of the other 2 terms existing. It is hydrophobic (water hating) as it doesn't have polar groups to attract polar solvents. like dissolves like.


What does water-loving and water-hating mean?

hydrophobic is water hating and hydrophilic is water loving


Is DNA amphipathic?

Yes, DNA is an amphiphile as it has hydrophobic and hydrophilic parts. However this does not mean it is surface active!


Is water hydrophobic?

no, that would mean water molecules are not attracted to other water molecules


Does non polar mean hydrophobic or hydrophilic?

Non-polar molecules do not dissolve in water as they cannot form hydrogen bonds, and so they are hydrophobic.A non-polar molecule is one that the electrons are distributed more symmetrically. They do not have an abundance of charges at the opposite sides, and the charges cancel out each other.


What does hydrophilic nature mean?

Hydrophilic : Having an affinity for water; readily absorbing or dissolving in water. Water-loving.Common examples of hydrophilic compounds include salt and sugar.Oil, however, will not dissolve in water, because it is hydrophobic, or water-hating.It means water loving type. Hydrphilic means having affinity for water. This would he something that dissolves in or mixes well with water.


What does hydrophobic mean?

Hydrophobic literally means "fear of water." It's used in chemistry to refer to "greasy" molecules (the opposite term is "hydrophilic", which means "water-loving") that don't dissolve readily in water. In medicine, it's an old term for rabies, which as one of its effects makes it painful to swallow; an animal with rabies often avoids water despite being thirsty because swallowing hurts so much.


What does hydrophilic heads mean?

Polar molecules are those which have a permanent electric dipole moment. What this means is that although the molecule may have an overall neutral charge, one part of it is more negative than the other.Using water for example, the oxygen is more electronegative and so this end of the molecule is more negatively charged.ANSWER:*to assist with understanding, open this link in another browser for diagrammatic reference.http://kvhs.nbed.nb.ca/gallant/biology/p…If you think of the hydrogen bonding in water it become clear why polar molecule are water-loving (or hydrophilic). The polarity this has gives the molecule a partial charge for the molecule allowing it to hydrogen bond with water.Contrastingly, hydrophobic molecules are non-polar; that is, there is no partial negative or positive charge anywhere on the molecule. Because of this, it repels water.So in short, those molecule which are polar and have a dipole moment will be hydrophilic and those molecules with no dipole moment (non-polar) are hydrophobic.Relating this to phospholipids and plasma membranes, the phospholipid can be divided into two sections to examine. The "head" part of the molecule is polar (having a partial charge due to electronegativity) and therefore does not resist interaction with water.Because of this, the heads of one layer will be in contact with the outside of the cell and the heads of the other layer in contact with the cytoplasm of the cell.The hydrophobic tails avoid the water and arrange themselves in the middle of the 2 layers.HYDROPHOBIC = NON-POLAR


What is the significance of Mean square distance?

The mean square displacement is a measure of the average distance a molecule travels. It allows physicists to determine how far a molecule will travel in a given time interval.


What does the science term called like dissolves like mean?

"Like Dissolves Like" is a concept in chemistry discribing hydrophobic (nonpolar) and hydrophilic (polar) interactions. Polar molecules, in order to reduce unfavorable interactions that require free energy to compensate for, tend to associate with other polar molecules. Non-polar molecules, likewise, associate with other nonpolar molecules. The terms hydrophobic and hydrophilic are used to describe a molecules tendency to associate with water. Polar molecules, using the "like dissolves like" concept associate with water, while nonpolar molecules tend to reduce interactions with water.


Why does oil miscible in solution of surf and water?

Presumably you mean surfactant and water? A classic surfactant molecule has a polar, hydrophilic end and a non-polar hydrocarbon liophilic end. With enough of a suitable surfactant, oil droplets will form with the liophilic part of surfactant molecules dissolved in the droplets and water molecules attached to the hydrophilic part of the surfactant. The oil disperses in the water.


What do hydrophobic heads and tails do?

Actually, although the tails are referred to as hydrophobic, the heads are actually hydrophilic. This terminology most ofter refers to the cell membrane due to the fact that it is made up of something called a phosopholipid bilayer. This layer is made of two rows of lipids, a type of fat molecule that has a pydrophilic head and a hydrophobic tail. Once you understand that, you can understand what the heads and tails do. Since -phobic means fear and -philic means love hydrophobic and hydrophilic mean water fearing and water loving respectively. When these particles form the bilayer, they automatically position themselves with the water loving heads on the outside edges of the membrane and the water fearing ends on the interior of the membrane. It looks somewhat like this: Water Outside of Membrane ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ~Water Inside of Membrane As this shows (although very crudely) the lipids form the membrane "wall" by having the tail (1) on the inside and the heads (o) on the outside. ( Sorry part of it cuts off. Imagine the heads continuing on with the rest of the membrane.) This is a very basic explanation. You can find more by searching Phosphlipid Bilayer online.