Lipids are one of the four key components of the cell. (The other three are nucleic acids, carbohydrates and proteins.) Lipids show a strong response to water. Why?
Lipids have clear "head" and "tail" areas. The tails don't react to water, and the heads "love" water. Tails of lipids come in all lengths.
Olive oil, for example, has a tail of about 17 or 18 units.
So the longer the tail...
the less reactive the whole molecule is to water.
Oil and water, therefore, do not mix. If you don't believe this, try mixing them up. Then watch them separate.
A Nashoba Brooks students does an oil and water experiment.
