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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.
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What group of animals have no heads or tails?
crab
A farmer saw 4 heads 10 legs and 3 tails What animals did he see?
A farmer saw 4 heads 10 legs and 3 tails
Why do squirrels put their tails over their heads when its raining?
to block water from going to body
How many toes does a Giant Tortoise have?
I have a giant tortois and it has 53 toes. and 16 tails. it isn't rare for them to have 3 heads.
Why phospholipids form a thin layer on the surface of an aqueous solution?
The major driving force for the formation of a lipid bilayer is hydrophobic forces on the phospholipid fatty acid carbon chains. Once formed the membrane is further stabilized by hydrogen bonds, electrostatic attractions, and Van Der Waals contacts.
What part of a lipid is hydrophobic?
The tails of lipids are hydrophobic and the heads are hydrophilic hope this helped=) The tails of lipids are hydrophobic and the heads are hydrophilic hope this helped=)
Are the lipids associated with the biological membrane hydrophobic or hydrophilic?
Hydrophyllic heads and hydrophobic tails.
Do Phospholipids have hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions?
Yes, hydrophilic phosphate heads and hydrophobic modified carbohydrate tails.
Why are the outside heads of phospholipids located on the outside of the cell membrane?
Tails are Hydrophobic
Do phospholipids of the plasma membrane have hydrophobic heads and tails?
Hydrophobic means water fearing tails and hydrophilic means water loving heads First of all, these terms are involved when you are looking at the cell membrane. The structure of the cell membrane is called a phospholipid bilayer. Which means that the cell membrane is actually made to two layers and not one. If you take a look at the image, you will see that the little white sphere shaped objects are the hydrophilic heads, and the two little string-like objects attached to the hydophilic heads are the hydrophobic tails. All of the other stuff in the image is all of the extracellular proteins and such. But yes, as the previous answerer said. The hydrophilic heads are on the outer part of the bilayer because they are "water loving". Whereas the hydrophobic tails are on the inner part of the bilayer for two reasons. First, they are hydrophobic or "water fearing" so they will repel water. An example of hydrophobic is oil in water. The oil will form blob-like shapes in the water. Second, the hydrophobic tails also have a somewhat attraction to each other.
Why is the phosphate the polar part of the phosphilipid?
The phospholipid heads are hydrophillic and prefer the water while the tails are hydrophobic and are shielded from the water.
Do lipids have carbohydrate?
Yes they do, yet only in their Acid (HOOC-) Heads, not in their Hydrophobic (-CH2-CH2-CH2-) Tails.
How many outcomes are there when tossing a coin three times?
1heads heads heads 2heads heads tails 3heads tails heads 4heads tails tails 5tails tails tails 6tails tails heads 7tails heads tails 8tails heads heads
Why are proteins amphipathic?
Because the heads of the phospholipids are hydrophilic (water loving) and the tails of the phospholipids are hydrophobic (water hating). The tails are pointing towards each other and the heads are facing the membranes.
Why is a phospholipid both hydrophilic and hydrophobic?
They have both hydrophilic and hydrophobic heads. In a lipid bilayer, the hydrophilic head of the phospholipid faces the outside of the membrane while the hydrophobic head faces the the hydrophobic head of another phospholipid.
How would the membrane shown in transparency behave if it's fatty acid tails consisted mostly of unsaturated fatty acids?
The lipids would flip and the heads become hydrophobic and the tails hydrophilic
If a coin is tossed 3 times what is the probability of 3 heads?
There are 8 possible outcomes when a coin is tossed 3 times. Here they are:1. Heads, Heads, Tails.2. Heads, Tails, Heads.3. Tails, Heads, Heads.4. Heads, Heads, Heads.5. Tails, Tails, Heads.6. Tails, Heads, Tails.7. Heads, Tails, Tails.8. Tails, Tails, Tails.There is only one outcome that is heads, heads, heads, so the probability of three heads coming up in three coin tosses is 1 in 8 or 0.125 for that probability.
