Within the aqueous environment of an animal cell, sugars are stored as polymers rather than as monomers. If the sugars were stored as monomers instead of polymers, which of the following properties would be LEAST affected?
(1) Freezing point
(3) Viscosity
(2) Osmotic pressure
(4) pH
et’s think about the properties of monomers versus polymers in an aqueous environment, particularly in the context of an animal cell.
Key Concepts:
- Osmotic pressure: This depends on the number of solute particles in the solution. Polymers like starch or glycogen (the stored form of sugars) have fewer particles compared to their monomeric forms (like glucose), which would increase the number of solute particles if they were stored as monomers. This would increase osmotic pressure.
- Viscosity: Polymers tend to be more viscous than their monomeric counterparts because they form long chains that interact with water, making the solution thicker. So, if sugars were stored as monomers, the viscosity would likely decrease.
- Freezing point: The freezing point is lowered when there are more solute particles in solution because solutes disrupt the formation of ice. Storing sugars as monomers instead of polymers would increase the number of particles in solution, lowering the freezing point more.
- pH: The pH is determined by the concentration of hydrogen ions (H+H^+H+) in the solution. Neither monomers nor polymers of sugars are significantly acidic or basic, so pH would be least affected by whether the sugars are stored as monomers or polymers. The chemical structure of glucose (whether as a monomer or in a polymer form) does not alter the concentration of H+H^+H+ significantly.
Final Answer:
(4) pH ā The pH of the solution would be least affected by whether sugars are stored as monomers or polymers.