ok, I need help on my homework. Lol And I need to know what polarity has to do with the structure of the phospholipid bi-layer. Any help? thanks.Polarity and the structure of a phospholipid bi-layer?
The lipid bilayer is composed of mostly of phospholipids. These are similar in structure to triacylglycerol except one of the fatty acids is replaced by a phosphate group. This gives it polarity (the phosphate ';head'; is polar/hydrophillic while the fatty acid tail is hydrophobic/non-polar). This polarity causes the phospholipids to form a bilayer with the hydrophobic fatty acids buried in the middle (protected from water) and the phosphate head (hydrophillic) exposed to the water.
More information (and pictures) are here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipid_bilay鈥?/a>
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