Why do phospholipids form a bilayer in water?
Biology · High School · Thu Feb 04 2021
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Explanation : When phospholipids are mixed with water, they spontaneously rearrange themselves to form the lowest free-energy configuration. This means that the hydrophobic regions find ways to remove themselves from water, while the hydrophilic regions interact with water. The resulting structure is called a lipid bilayer.
Phospholipids are amphipathic molecules. This means that they have a hydrophilic, polar phosphate head and two hydrophobic fatty acid tails. These components of the phospholipids cause them to orientate themselves, so the phosphate head can interact with water and the fatty acid tails can't, hence forming a bilayer.