Membrane Structures

In the membrane structure tutorial, I learned that there are two different environments, the hydrophilic aqueous cytoplasm and the hydrophilic membranes. The lipids are classified as hydrophobic because they contain molecules that have 16 to 18 carbon, hydrocarbon backbones with only little amounts of oxygen. Waxes, pigments, steroid hormones, and cell membranes are all served by lipids, these are its major components. Fats are constructed from two classes of molecules. Their structures can be anywhere from 16 to 22 carbons long. To build a triacylglycerol, there need to be three fatty acids attached to a glycerol through an ester bond between the carboxyl group of acids and and the three alcohol groups connected to the glycerol. The types of fats can either be saturated or unsaturated. Phospholipids are what are called amphipathic(a molecule with a polar and and a hydrophobic end). When you mix a phospholipid in a water  solution, they will start to self assemble into different structures that exclude the moleulecules from the hydrophobic tails. For Reece's and my model, we decided to construct a plasma membrane structural model. We drew the same model on our poster that's posted below.