The surface energy of water: functional implications of hexagonal/cuboidal transformations in the surface arrays

Hyde's scientific book The Language of Shape has emphasized the importance of minimum surfaces in the structure of biological membranes. Minimum surfaces can be visualized as the property which brings many droplets of liquids to spherical bubbles, since a sphere has the minimum surface to volume ratio. Thus, a sphere with a surface of 4pir2 and volume of 4/3pir3 has a surface to volume ratio of 3/r, that is, the ratio is dependent upon the reciprocal of the radius. The chemistry of water as dihydrides of the electronegative element oxygen is fundamentally dependent upon its polar properties and particularly the delta positive charges on the hydrogen atoms and the double delta negative charge on the larger oxygen atom, which from its mass (16 Da) is regarded as the centre of the water molecules. The cohesion of water as a liquid or as semi-crystal like structures in the surface depends upon electrostatic forces that are comparable in strength to covalent bonds. This review discusses the functional implications of some unexpected properties which have been evinced by model building and illustrated as a Poster in the 4th World Congress of Cellular and Molecular Biology.