alleryStart learning →Why do phospholipids in water spontaneously arrange into a bilayer?
ATails avoid water while heads face it
BHeads avoid water while tails face it
CBoth heads and tails are repelled by water
DCharged tails attract one another strongly
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: A. Tails avoid water while heads face it
1. In water, phospholipids arrange with their hydrophobic tails facing each other and their hydrophilic heads facing out.
2. That gives a double layer of phospholipids separating the water on one side from the water on the other.
3. The reverse arrangement would bury the water loving heads away from water, which no force drives.
4. The tails carry no charge at all, so mutual attraction between charged tails cannot be the reason.
_Source: OpenStax Biology (1st ed., CC BY 4.0), Ch 5 "Structure and Function of Plasma Membranes", section 5.1 Components and Structure_
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